They had to massively raise taxes to pay for world war ii, which created a lot of jobs, which got the money flowing again. IIRC they didn't have an income tax before Franklin Roosevelt, so rich people got to keep almost all the money they made. The WW2 was the reason taxes were raised, but we don't have to have a war to tax and spend. If we really have an emergency, I guess we could raise taxes on the very wealthy people & wealthy corporations and use the money to create jobs in order to get the money flowing and stimulate the economy. I read that the top few percent of people have most of the wealth in the USA. I think we should at least raise taxes on the oil companies, which are making windfall profits right now.