Are the present economic conditions similar to those during the Great Depression?

[kentuck]

After the Republicans got through cutting taxes, spending like drunken sailors, and crashing Wall Street and the economy, we never actually recovered until after WWII. That was about 15 years. Are we in a similar situation now? I think we may be?

That said, did anybody ask FDR in 1936 why he had not "fixed" the economy yet? I'm sure they did but the people re-elected him anyway. They knew why we were in the mess we were in. It was Republican conservative policies from the "Roaring Twenties". George W Bush and the Republicans initiated the second installment in 2001.

Joe Biden says this Administration is now in charge and must accept responsibility for the economy. That's all well and good Joe but we will probably be accepting responsibility for the next decade for a mess not of our making. Those that think we will recover from this mess - like we have from "normal" recessions - have their heads buried deep in the sand, in my humble opinion.

[ixion]

1. After? I would say during.

Because we're sure not through this yet.

[kentuck]

2. True

fixed. Thanks.

[ixion]

3. thanks!

In which case, I agree. We're walking much the same path, only it's worse this time, because of the magnitude of the problem, and because we have no manufacturing base now.

As for FDR, I think people were more tolerant because at least he was trying to fix things. He created organized camps for the homeless people (although there weren't enough of them) and he created massive infrastructure projects to put people back to work.

All we're seeing now is comfort for the Wall St. crowd, while we here on Main St. languish.

[kentuck]

4. If not for Social Security and the safety net created by FDR and LBJ...

it would be much worse. It is those liberal programs that are saving us from the most severe devastation of our lifetimes or maybe, in our history.

[cyglet]

5. of course Repubs are actively trying to do away with both

I don't know if we'll ever be back to where we were before, either.

[kentuck]

6. Any American, Democrat or Republican, that does not see this...

is asleep at the wheel, in my opinion.

[ixion]

7. I agree. They're staving off the inevitable, for the moment

but with Congress eating away (and Obama helping :wtf:) they won't be around forever, and will ultimately run out of funding, much like FEMA is now.

[kentuck]

8. And many Democrats are cheering them on...

:-(

[cyglet]

9. Europeans say

we have 2 right wing parties. One is just less right than the other. I'm getting to the point of agreeing with them...

[kentuck]

10. I think we have 2 corporate parties...

and even though one Party may be socially liberal, it is tied to the fortunes of corporations, just like the other.

[Warren Stupidity]

11. that point is not even debatable. We have a Plutocratic Duopoly.

The plutocracy has captured both political parties. They are both rightwing, one now far right, the other center right. The left has no voice at all in the federal government outside of one or two senators (and I actually can only count one there) and the house progressive caucus.

[Owlet]

12. Very similar

..but to conditions in Britain in 1931. London was then THE financial capitol of the world, the British Empire was still more or less intact, and political leadership of all stripes was pretty puny.

The US of the 1930's bears little or no resemblance to the country today. It was an industrial nation, at peace, with a laughably small standing army. We've come a long way since then. I'll leave it to others to decide in which direction.

[Davis_X_Machina]

13. No.

U6 then was somewhere between 40 and 50%. U3 -- the most widely used measure of unemployment -- was over 25%. If you had immiseration at that level, you'd also see a dramatically altered political landscape.

The present recession would come rank after the Great Depression starting in 1929, and after the 1937 relapse. There are other candidates for depth in the '40's and '80's, but not for duration

[Warren Stupidity]

14. The current situation may be far worse than the Great Depression.

Resource scarcity and catastrophic climate change impose a limit on growth: we cannot grow our way out of this mess, as we did in the late 30's - 60's. That era is over.

We cannot simply grow our way out of this mess. We need a fundamental restructuring of the economic system itself, one that puts the global economy on a sustainable basis while providing basic economic security for all the people of the planet. We do not have the political systems that can effect this sort of change. Consequently we have a crisis of civilization, an existential crisis, and one that is not being overtly addressed.

It is sadly ironic that at a time when collective socialist programs could provide the basis for a green sustainable future that in fact provided economic security for all, neoliberal regimes and memes dominate policy making across the planet. The engine of capitalism is manifestly busted, but our leaders refuse to even consider fixing it.

[kentuck]

16. I think you are correct.

We have to look at capitalism and socialism thru an entirely new lens. The 40-hour week, the global economy, trade tariffs, taxes, social job programs, healthcare, a green sustainable future, etc...

[KharmaTrain]

15. Can You Compare Babe Ruth Vs. A-Rod

While they play the same sports, they played at different times under different circumstances. My parents were Depression kids and I grew up hearing plenty of the problems they faced...or my own when I entered the "real world" during the "Raygun" economy of the 80s (how soon so many forget how bad things were during the early 80s) or what I am seeing or what my kids are encountering now. Different times, different people, different solutions.

It was to be expected that no matter what this President has or will do that the rushpublicans and the corporate media will find something wrong. FDR didn't have a 24/7 media world to deal with where every day is some new outrage or "crisis". Who knows if he would have reacted the same way if he had faced such an obstructionist rushpublican party either.

Keep in mind, by 1936, the Depression was into its 7th year...3 of them under Hoover. Our current mess can be traced to Fall '07...and the real bite didn't kick in until the months before President Obama took the oath. So the timelines you're playing with are a little different as well. Bottom line is the rushpublicans will never give this President any credit...and will distort ALL bad news to make this administration look both responsible and inept. If they can convince enough people of this lie...they win. And that's the only thing that remains constant here...rushpublicans lied and obstructed then and they continue to do so today.

[kentuck]

17. Babe Ruth didn't have Social Security or unemployment....

or the other amenities from the New Deal or the Great Society. Where would old people be today if there were no SS or Medicare? What would the poverty rate be? I would guess it would be just as bad or worse than the Great Depression.

[RickFromMN]

18. The 1930s also had the Dust Bowl. Not sure our time has a corollary.

Our time has all these wars, Iraq and Afghanistan.
We seem to be involved in a lot of wars because of oil.
I also suspect we want to be involved in wars to be the World Cop,
but believe oil is the most important and biggest reason.

There were wars, during the 1930s...but I don't think we involved ourselves in them,
at least not officially:
China's "long March", Spanish Civil War, Japanese invasion of China, start of World War II.


That time was the time of Hitler. We have dictators, but I don't see a Hitler on our horizon.

[oldlib]

19. This depression is worse

because it only affects the middle and lower class. In the Great Depression everyone was affected, including the rich, particularly the investors in the stock market.