GLENN BECK - AAARGH!!!

I guess his fans don't take seriously Beck's advice to question everything because he gets away with so many whoppers like this one.

Glenn Beck: Time to Reboot the System
Thursday, February 11, 2010

1920, the unknown depression. Remember I told you about the "Roaring '20s" yesterday or the day before? This one wasn't a Great Depression, but it was just as bad as 1930. You don't know about it because we pulled out of it quickly.

In 1921, our goods and services lost half of their value. By comparison, the loss of our housing value in the past year has been 18 percent.

1920 — hello. Our GNP fell 24 percent between — in one year, 1920 to 1921. Our unemployment rate back then was 11.9, higher than it is now, far worse than today. And in 2009, real GDP only decreased 2.4. Got it?
Two-point-four.

Hello? In some cases, 1920 was worse than the Great Depression in the 1930s.

The claim in red is complete bullshit as you can see from this graph of GDP between 1920 and 1940. You can also go to the online version of Historical Statistics of the United States: Millenial Edition and look at the GDP table for yourself. You'll see that in constant 1996 dollars, the GDP for 1920 was 574,987 millions and in 1921 it was 560,932 millions. This is a 2.4% decline, NOT 24 percent.

UPDATE: According to the data at the Bureau of Economic Analysis, the decline in GDP from 2008 to 2009 was 1.26%.