The Republican political party of USAmerica controlled both houses of Congress for the whole decade preceding the Great Depression of the 20th century. They also held the Presidency during these years. They pushed tariffs to an all time high, often looked the other way as big business commited violations of the Sherman Anti-Trust Act and market competition within the USA waned, and made tax cuts which benefited the wealthy. It was after all this that the Great Depression took place, lasting for many years.

-- Encyclopedia Americana: Republican Party possibly by George H. Mayer, University of South Florida, Grolier Incorporated

Corruption within the ruling Republican party of 1920s USA was rampant.

-- Welcome to the Machine by Nicholas Confessore; The Washington Monthly; July/August 2003

US President(s): Warren G. Harding, Republican, 1921-1923; Calvin Coolidge, Republican, 1923-1929; Herbert Hoover, Republican, 1929-1933

-- The Universal Almanac 1996, Andrews & McMeel, pages 70-91, and other sources

Senate: Republican majority (68th, 69th, 70th, 71st, 72nd Congresses)

-- U.S. Senate Statistics: Majority and Minority Parties and Senate Statistics Vice Presidents

House of Representatives: Republican majority, (68th, 69th, 70th, 71st, 72nd Houses)

-- Political Divisions of the House of Representatives (1789 to Present), Source: Committee on House Administration. Charlie Rose, Chairman. U.S. Government Printing Office. 1994. History of the United States House of Representatives, 1789-1994 Washington: 1994:"

-- The state of the American union, circa early 2003; The enormous hidden costs to society of 'right-wing' political governance

"As for the catastrophe itself catching up to you [Republicans], major disasters of the sort you arrange usually take a while to actually come to fruition (the Great Depression required perhaps ten years of concerted effort)...

...so by that time you should have successfully diverted $trillions in tax payer monies to your friends, family, and political donors by various channels, as well as made good on your own escape from office, leaving the horrific mess for others to clean up for years-- maybe even decades-- to come. You should also be reassured by US history, which shows top politicians and major political parties pay for their crimes even more rarely (and with smaller penalties) than top US business executives and corporations. After all, the only punishment meted out to the Republican party responsible for the Great Depression of the 1920s was a US electorate unwilling to trust them with majority control of all three branches of US government simultaneously for such a lengthy period again, for many decades. By contrast, Germany permanently banned from existence its own right-wing political party which so decimated it and the world during the same period.

Perhaps the closest thing to predictability in American criminal sentencing today is that the rich or powerful who steal millions or billions of dollars, or harm thousands or millions by their actions or inactions, usually get far lighter punishment (if any) than poor whites or blacks or other disadvantaged citizens involved in crimes which are trivial by comparison.

"Criminal prosecutions are highly unusual for corporate criminals, and convictions carrying jail time are even more rare." -- Big crimes? Maybe. Big punishment? Not likely; Yahoo! Op/Ed - USA TODAY; Gannett Co. Inc.; Feb 5, 2002

-- Crime And (Very Little) Punishment by Arianna Huffington; Arianna Online; July 15, 2002

-- WorldCom, Enron execs elude charges By David E. Rovella; BLOOMBERG NEWS; Aug. 20, 2003; bayarea.com

-- Punishment falls short of crime against investors By Dan Gillmor; Dec. 21, 2002; siliconvalley.com

Gross inconsistency in punishments for businesses which knowingly abused their customers often results in negligible penalties for relatively large-scale crimes.

-- Penalizing Wall Street: Pick a Fine, Any Fine By Heather Timmons and Mike McNamee; Businessweek; DECEMBER 23, 2002

-- Banking's Bigwigs May Be Beyond the Law's Reach By Mike McNamee, Nanette Byrnes, and Emily Thornton; Businessweek; MAY 19, 2003

The Republican political party of USAmerica controlled both houses of Congress for the whole decade preceding the Great Depression of the 20th century. They also held the Presidency during these years. They pushed tariffs to an all time high, often looked the other way as big business commited violations of the Sherman Anti-Trust Act and market competition within the USA waned, and made tax cuts which benefited the wealthy.

It was after all this that the Great Depression took place, lasting for many years.

-- Encyclopedia Americana: Republican Party possibly by George H. Mayer, University of South Florida, Grolier Incorporated

Republicans controlled both the Senate and the House in Congress, as well as the Presidency, from 1921 to 1933. After the debacle of the Great Depression, they never again managed to control all three of these positions simultaneously for longer than a year or two at a time, at most (as of mid-2003).

-- The World Almanac and Book of Facts 2002, pages 92 and 545; World Almanac Books

Corruption within the ruling Republican party of 1920s USA was rampant.

-- Welcome to the Machine by Nicholas Confessore; The Washington Monthly; July/August 2003

-- South Africa Dissolves Party That Was Architect of Apartheid; 2004/08/09; nytimes.com"

-- But exactly how could someone preserve the status quo in today's world? The enormous hidden costs to society of 'right-wing' political governance