It was January 1934. The Great Depression was five years old – but still had another five years to run.
The carnage was horrific: From 1929 to 1934, U.S. personal income plunged 44%, real output nosedived 30% and the unemployment rate soared to 25% of the American labor force.

Gold and oil both traded down about 2.5% overnight in New York. The Fed is meeting in Washington, D.C. We’ll know soon what, if anything, it plans to do. But does it really matter?