>he's talking more about mitigating the pain of recessions for the average person.

So your claim is that the pain of recessions for the average person have been getting worse over time? Where is that evidence? I don't see it.

Unemployment during the depression was around 25% and people were starving.

Ok, but how about if you stick to the postwar period?

Here's my take. Postwar, inflation at the peak of the business cycle was rising every cycle until 1980. Then Volcker clamped down on inflation, and since then inflation as dropped each cycle. Unfortunately, unemployment at the bottom of the cycle has also grown with each cycle.