1873: The panic followed a huge run-up of the federal debt and issuance of irredeemable greenbacks. There was a move to pay back the debt with greenbacks rather than gold.

1890: What depression? In the period from 1805 to 1950 the decade of the 1889s was the most productive of all in real terms . Some economists believe that a drop in wages and prices equates to a depression. It doesn't.

1893: Treasury sent a shock through the financial community when it imposed a stiff fee on the export of gold bars taken from its vaults in 1991 and when in 1892 a free silver coinage bill was passed. “The Treasury's gold reserve declined, and a run ensued on the Treasury.” “.. distrust of the fractional reserve banks led to massive bank runs and bank failures throughout the country.”

etcetera, etcetera

NOTE: Quotes and information (filtered through me) taken from “A History of Money and Banking in the United States” by Murray N. Rothbard.

There is no gold standard when the U.S. Treasury issues money substitutes not redeemable in gold. The Fed is the enabler of that process in today's America.

Depressions are caused by the expansion of fiat money which first goes to those favored by the issuing government. Instead of the market allocating factors of production the government does. When the money ultimately adjusts to the inflation, and market price ratios are reestablished, those expanded industries not favored by the market feel the squeeze.

I've always said that the Fed is a bad idea. Why should one back tell other banks what the interest rate should be? And now, why should the fed print money? In the constitution, it specifically states, “The Department of Treasury is responsible for printing money, and the congress is the only group that can order it to print money. And that money shall be backed up with tangible assets.”

So, in effect, the Fed is breaking the law when they print money.

Go read my first post.

It's the digressive and most dangerous concept ever.

Good news! How about a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution?

The Federal Reserve probably didn't stop them because it didn't exist; and the US had the glorious gold standard, as well as lack of central banking.

If the Federal Reserve has struck out 3 times, that means that the lack of a Federal Reserve has struck out 9 times. Man oh man, the more people talk about removing the Federal Reserve, the more appealing it seems!

On a side note, those gaps in the years in the list were when we had a central bank.