Mistakes a common thread in 1920s, now

Does history repeat itself?

While reading something else, I came across this quote on the Great Depression. And being a student of history -- especially as it relates to the here and now -- I had to trot it out.
"The Great Depression sprang from three fatal mistakes," William H. Peterson of the Heritage Foundation wrote in the Nov. 1, 1999 issue of Investor's Business Daily.

According to Peterson, these three mistakes were:

1) "The fed's jacking up of money-supply growth in the 1920s, which fueled the stock market boom."

2) The Smoot-Hawley Tariff of 1930, "... hiking import duties to their highest level in U.S. history and inviting deadly foreign retaliation against U.S. exports," and ...

3) Cranking up the top income tax rate, "from 24 percent to 63 percent."

OK, Peterson's article ("Leviathan's Brood: Moral Hazards:) was written a few years ago, but it gets really interesting when we dust it off. The first point really caught my attention. If it doesn't sound like the easy-financing, "$500 down, $500 per month for 500 years" direction the mortgage industry went during the past decade, where just about anyone could get a home loan, then I'm missing something.

Regarding the second and third mistakes: Maybe there once was a situation where government intervention and/or increased taxes actually solved something. I'm taking that on faith, as I've never seen that happen.

See the common thread between the 1920s and now? I sure do, and it's not pretty.
Anyway, fasten your seat belts. Keep your hands and arms inside the vehicle, shut up, and hang on. This is going to be one bumpy ride.

(Disclaimer: I wrote this Wednesday, before the ax swung a little too close for my own comfort. But that doesn't change anything. Principles are still principles, and history does not revise itself for anyone's convenience.)