US Presidency
1929

THE ECONOMY AND PUBLIC CONFIDENCE We are dealing here with a psychological situation to a very considerable degree. It is a question of fear. We have had a collapse in the stock market, out of which a good many people have lost money, and a lot of people who could not afford to, and a lot of unfortunate people have been brought in, the effect of which in the American mind creates an undue state of alarm, because our national thinking naturally goes back to previous occasions when events of that character have had a very considerable bearing upon the business situation, and in its final interpretation it is employment. Now, a great many people lifted their standards of living, and naturally the effect of such a thing tends to decrease consumption particularly for luxury and semi-luxury, and those trades are no doubt still affected.