(* Seriously, there is a dynamic which happened in the Great Depression that may come back. It is the question of what happens when under the mattress is a sensible investment policy. In that case you get into an underinvestment equilibrium. People won't invest money in anything. *)

I once heard that a bunch of economists came to the conclusion that sticking to the gold standard was the problem.

But, if you are right, then one solution may be to not tax bank savings, at least not during low times. If you do that, than people will put more money in banks, and the banks can then invest it.

BTW, why doesn't the gov just print more money? F inflation worries for now.

(* In the Great Depression things were great if you had money. About 20% of the population was better off than they were before. Things were dirt cheap, people were grateful for anything you gave them, etc. Life sucked for the other 80%... *)

My grandfather was a dentist during the depression, and did relatively well. Teeth go bad no matter what. If you want a recession-proof career, pick fixing something that people need regardless of the economy. Programming is the opposite because about 40 percent of it is new development I estimate. That means that roughly 40 percent of all programmers may get canned during bad times.