Slate Money: Money Talks – "Don’t Forget The 1929 Crash"

Date: October 14, 2025
Host: Felix Salmon (A), with Elizabeth Spires (C)
Guest: Andrew Ross Sorkin (B), author of 1929: Inside the Greatest Crash in Wall Street History and How It Shattered a Nation

Overview

This episode is an in-depth conversation with financial journalist and author Andrew Ross Sorkin about his new book, 1929, which recounts the stock market crash of that year and its aftermath. Using a character-driven narrative, Sorkin aims to draw connections between the economic events of 1929 and today’s financial world—warning listeners and policymakers against repeating the mistakes that led to the Great Depression. The discussion ranges from historical personalities and policies to current debates around regulation, speculation, and risks in modern finance.

Main Theme

The 1929 crash and ensuing Great Depression are reexamined through newly uncovered stories and personal accounts—revealing how leverage, lack of transparency, speculation, and poor political decisions combined to cause an epochal disaster. The episode draws clear parallels between that era and contemporary challenges in markets like private credit and crypto, urging listeners not to forget the hard-learned lessons of history.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

The Book: 1929

• Sorkin describes the book as a “TikTok-style” (i.e., minute-by-minute, immersive) narrative of the lead-up to, the experience of, and the aftermath following the 1929 crash ([04:00]).
• The goal is to reveal the human, not just structural, factors: “It’s really the people who make these decisions that change history.” ([04:27] B)
• Sorkin spent eight years in archival research, focusing on the personalities, relationships, and decision-making failures that shaped financial history ([02:00]–[02:45]).

Why 1929 Still Matters

• Sorkin began the book simply for historical preservation, but as work progressed, he saw increasingly “eerily” relevant parallels to today: “Not only…do you love it as sort of a rollicking read and a way to understand history, but…you’re going to see some things and go, ah, we have to worry about this.” ([04:27] B)
• The main lesson: Financial crises are “typically a function of one thing—it’s leverage. It’s too much credit.” ([05:55] B)

Leverage, Risk, and Modern Parallels

• Leverage has migrated since 1929—from banks, to subprime mortgages, and now to the shadowy “private credit universe”: “All of those funds have liquidity lines back to the banks…the idea that somehow we’ve outsourced credit and the risk, I’m not sure is totally true.” ([07:01] B)
• Sorkin warns about lack of transparency in new forms: “Pay attention to transparency. That was one of the lessons…of 1929. There were no rules, no SEC, no insider trading rules… In fact, you’d be lucky if there was, like, a leaflet.” ([07:01]-[08:02] B)

Notable Quote

“The leverage has just shifted completely. It’s no longer sitting in the banks the way we thought. It’s now living in this private credit universe that we really can’t measure.”
— Andrew Ross Sorkin ([05:55])

Speculation, Pools, and Crypto

• In 1929, speculation flourished via unregulated “investor pools”—suspiciously similar to modern crypto: “I was on TV…joking about Sorkin coin. Two hours later, there was a Sorkin coin. In this group, they are literally doing what they did in 1929…insider trading…then of course they’re going to pull the rug. This is the digital version of what was happening in 1929.” ([08:36]-[09:38] B)
• The lack of regulatory guardrails, then and now, fosters outright fraud and market manipulation.

Memorable Moment

“Someone in that group tried to reach out to one of my sons…offering my kids $50,000 worth of ‘Sorkin coin’ so they could then say the Sorkins were invested…My son Henry says, ‘Dad, I’m leaving a lot of money on the table here.’ But that is very 1929-ish.”
— Andrew Ross Sorkin ([09:51]-[10:34])

Wall Street, Leverage, and Markets Today

• 1929’s extreme leverage (borrow $10 for every $1 down) made the crash inevitable; today, the risk isn’t as apparent in public stocks, but is buried in private markets and interconnected financial institutions ([11:01]-[14:25]).
• The “AI bubble” may be driven by real cash, but also by debt-laden construction, real estate, and energy companies feeding off the trend.
• Regulatory progress (e.g., Basel III) ostensibly reduced systemic risk, but both Sorkin and Spires warn about dangers hiding in private finance and the offloading of risky assets into insurance and retirement accounts ([15:59]-[17:40]).

Notable Quote

“Once you get into a private universe and you get into this mark-to-make-believe situation, that’s complicated.”
— Andrew Ross Sorkin ([16:34])

The Crash vs. The Depression

• The relationship between the 1929 crash and the Great Depression is not linear: Sorkin portrays the crash as merely the “first domino…casting a pall and hitting many others through bad political and policy decisions, like Smoot-Hawley tariffs and the gold standard.” ([18:31]–[19:30] B)
• “Most of America doesn’t know the story this way…There was some one terrible, horrific day in October that led to the Great Depression and that was it. And there’s about like a hundred things that happened.” ([19:40] B)

Political Lessons: Jawboning and Tariffs

• Discussion of Hoover’s attempt to “jawbone” away market panic mirrors Biden’s struggles to convince Americans the economy is better than they feel ([20:28]–[20:58]).
• The Smoot-Hawley Tariffs, enacted to fulfill a campaign promise to farmers, “led to global trade falling by 60% within 12 months.” ([26:05]–[27:53] B)
• Despite knowledge that tariffs are damaging, today’s politics and budgets make reversing them nearly impossible: “I imagine if we’re all having this conversation 20 years from now, we will think that tariffs were not a great idea…but it feels like there’s going to be a permanence to these tariffs, almost irrespective of whoever you think is in the White House.” ([28:24] B)

Celebrities, Blame, and Risk Culture

• High-flying Wall Street titans like Charles Mitchell were the celebrity CEOs of their day, later demonized after the crash—a cycle repeated for investment bankers post-2008 and now tech moguls ([30:24]–[31:41] B).
• Changing attitudes toward speculation: Should regular people be protected from risky investments, or is mass speculation now an acceptable part of American financial life? Sorkin worries the “gambling culture” erodes vital guardrails and opens the door to fraud ([33:11]–[35:19] B).

Notable Exchange

“Is there a role for government to say you can’t have the lottery ticket?…There has to be a little bit of a gamble—but if you let everybody completely to their own devices…the human condition is to want more, and that may be a problem.”
— Andrew Ross Sorkin ([33:31]–[34:30])

Why History Matters

• The book is intended as a warning: “The whole book is really the history of what happens when a completely unregulated financial system gets out over its skis.” ([35:19] A)
• The regulatory regime (e.g., the SEC, Glass-Steagall Act) was established as an explicit response to the 1929 crash and its lessons—a framework now at risk of being forgotten or actively undermined ([36:07]–[36:28]).
• Sorkin teases revelations about Glass-Steagall’s real origins, hinting they weren’t nearly as straightforwardly virtuous as usually portrayed ([36:28] B).

Closing Quote

“That, my friend, is the purpose of the book.”
— Andrew Ross Sorkin ([36:07])

Notable Quotes with Timestamps

• On leverage and systemic risk:

  “Do you think you really know where the leverage is today?...the leverage has just shifted completely…it’s now living in this private credit universe that we really can’t measure.” ([05:55] B)

• On unchecked speculation:

  “They are literally doing what they did in 1929. Insiders saying, you go in for half a million bucks, then I’ll bid it up … and all these people are … insider trading.” ([08:36] B)

• On regulatory amnesia:

  “The lesson that we learned in the 1930s, we have now forgotten.” ([35:19] A)

• On government’s role in speculation:

  “Is there a role for government to say you can’t have the lottery ticket?...there has to be a little bit of a gamble. But … the human condition is to want more and that may be a problem.” ([34:30] B)

Timestamps for Important Segments

• Discussing the new book and its purpose: [02:00]–[04:27]
• Why do we still need to study 1929? [04:27]–[05:41]
• Leverage—then and now: [05:41]–[08:02]
• Historical speculation vs. crypto: [08:36]–[09:51]
• Margin lending in 1929 vs. modern risk: [11:01]–[12:29]
• Parallels to today’s market structure & risk: [14:00]–[17:40]
• Crash and Depression—how linked? [18:31]–[20:08]
• Tariffs—historical impact and modern politics: [26:05]–[29:49]
• Shifting perception of market heroes and risk-takers: [30:24]–[31:41]
• Should anyone be able to speculate? [33:11]–[35:19]
• Why regulation was created, and the risk of forgetting: [35:19]–[36:53]
• Book’s subtitle and closing remarks: [37:23]–[37:30]

Conclusion

The episode not only traces the unforgettable drama of 1929 but—true to its title—emphasizes why remembering its lessons is essential amid technological advancement, new forms of speculation, and regulatory rollback. Sorkin and the hosts urge vigilance where leverage and opacity are hiding, warning that the very guardrails erected after 1929 are being eroded, risking a repeat of disaster, just in more modern forms.

Recommendation:
If you want to understand both the personalities and deeper mechanics that drive financial excess and collapse—and why today’s world may not be as different as we’d like to think—Sorkin’s 1929 is essential reading, and this episode serves as a compelling primer.