Jim Saunders

Blind Spot Jim Saunders

Two dramatic cultural revolutions coincided with the Great Depression. Motivated by a struggling economy, America's political center shifted left. A slew of technological marvels turned the nation modern. Today, the former gets the most attention, but the latter has had the greatest influence on twenty-first century America. Despite a soaring unemployment rate and radical initiatives designed to put Americans back to work, industry modernized the nation. Across dozens of major industries, in a short time span, a surge in new technologies transformed American culture. Compare an automobile, a refrigerator, a washing machine, a bus, or a locomotive made in 1929 to those built in 1939, or to post-war models of the 1940s. In each case, the latter designs bear a closer resemblance to its twenty-first century counterparts than their 1920s predecessors. There are countless other excellent examples, not just in transportation and home appliances, but in pharmaceuticals, agriculture, home construction, material sciences, packaging, industrial processes, and manufacturing equipment. Nor were these mere prototypes. During the 1930s highly automated carmakers built 25 million automobiles and appliance makers 17 million refrigerators. Throughout the 1930s, food producers sold billions of packaged goods annually. At the end of the decade Dupont introduced nylon stockings selling 64 million pairs their first year. How an abundance of new high-tech gadgets coexisted with a dismal business climate deserves a better explanation. Towards that goal, Blind Spot emphasizes the power of US manufacturing, reveals the true motivation behind the New Deal, exposes the follies of the central banking system, and unmasks the irrationalities of popular economic indicators.