re: #508 A hollow Gandalfian voice says, VOTE, you fools!

Before 1900, no-one thought that government should interfere in the economy at all, so there’s that. Even the Progressives only thought about breaking monopolies and regulating the quality and contents of merchandise.

I get really tired of people (GENERIC) who seem to think everything from government to technology to people’s attitudes is unchanged since the beginning of time.

Panic of 1907 essentially resulted in the Federal Reserve System forming. Since J P Morgan and the eastern banks had done a lot to prevent that particular panic from being worse by putting up a bunch of money and helping stop the run on the banks. That was quickly viewed as not necessarily being a good thing since some argued that said banks gained more influence thereby.
(Edit: Forgot to add: SOCIALISM!)