‘60 Minutes’ Guest Warns Trump’s Market Boom Could Mirror 1929 Crash

Echoes of 1929 in Today’s Market

A recent 60 Minutes segment revisited concerns that the U.S. stock market, soaring under President Donald Trump, may bear striking similarities to the speculative excesses preceding the 1929 crash. In a wide-ranging interview, journalist Andrew Ross Sorkin claimed that corporate leaders are hesitant to voice criticism, fearing retaliation from the administration. Michelle Gutierrez/The Register / USA TODAY NETWORK

Historical Parallel Drawn

Sorkin, whose new book is titled 1929, argued that the current market environment mirrors the “roaring ’20s” that preceded the Great Depression. He noted, “The crazy part about this is, from 1928 to September of 1929, the stock market was up 90%.” Penguin Random House

Unease at Today’s Elevated Prices

Pressed by host Lesley Stahl on whether he is frightened by the parallels, Sorkin responded: “I’m anxious. I’m anxious that we are at prices that may not feel sustainable. And what I don’t know is we are either living through some kind of remarkable boom … or everything’s overpriced.” When Stahl suggested the possibility of reenacting history, Sorkin answered simply: “1929.” Charles Bogel / Wikimedia

Sorkin: Fear Among CEOs to Speak Out

Sorkin also claimed that many top executives are “very scared” to publicly critique the Trump administration. “They are so worried that they are going to be potentially attacked by the administration, or regulated,” he said. “They’re gonna have a merger in front of some agency that’s not gonna be allowed to go through. They are so nervous about criticizing anything that’s going on with this administration.” David A. Grogan, CC BY-SA 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Uncertainty Over Timing and Magnitude

While Sorkin believes a market collapse is inevitable, he cautioned that neither the timing nor the scale can be predicted. Meanwhile, he also flagged the erosion of regulatory protections — including weakening SEC rules and a diminished Consumer Protection Bureau — as amplifying the risk of unchecked market speculation. Maxim Hopman / Unsplash