This Chapter discusses the infamous economic crisis, the Great Depression, and its political and regulatory ramifications. After a devastating stock market collapse seemingly enabled by laissez-fair policy (“hands-off” governmental role in the marketplace), politicians turned to John Maynard Keynes for economic policy guidance. Keynes theorized that investment in infrastructure and public works projects could boost the economy by a multiplier factor. President Franklin D. Roosevelt also turned to Justice Louis Dembitz Brandeis to shape his administration’s regulatory policies. The legislature passed the Securities Act of 1933, which called for strict disclosure requirements compelling registered companies to regularly report financial statistics to investors and the public. This crucial piece of legislation created the Securities Exchange Commission (the “SEC”). Public sale of stock came under the purview of this powerful regulatory agency. In the wake of the Great Depression, a galvanized federal government, bent on protecting the American people from another economic catastrophe, passed a series of sweeping regulatory and legislative reforms collectively called The New Deal.