Fed's role in the economy today still pales in comparison to the 1930s

The federal government's role in the economy today still pales in comparison to the 1930s in the depths of the Great Depression. That era gave birth to agencies like the SEC -- but also mammoth job-creation programs like the Tennessee Valley Authority, which built dams during the Depression years. By the 1980s, however, an era of deregulation had curtailed Washington's hand in business.