How Bad Might it Get? Think Great Depression

[marmar]

(Bloomberg) As the economic carnage from the coronavirus pandemic continues, a long-forbidden word is starting to creep onto people’s lips: “depression.”

In the 19th and early 20th centuries, there was no commonly accepted word for a slowdown in the economy. “Panic” was the term typically used for financial crises, while long slumps were commonly called depressions. Presidents such as James Monroe and Calvin Coolidge used the d-word to describe downturns during their administrations. There was even a slump in the 1870s that many referred to as the “Great Depression” at the time.

But then 1929 came, and there was no longer any doubt as to which depression deserved the modifier “great.” The crash hit the entire world, reducing economic output 15%. And it ground on mercilessly for years -- by 1933, unemployment in the U.S. was at 25%. The Great Depression was so severe that governments permanently expanded their role in the economy.

Since the 1930s, economists and commentators have used the word “recession” to describe economic slumps, and none of them have been nearly as severe as the Great Depression. The only time this convention was really challenged was after the financial crisis of 2008. The global nature of the downturn, sparked by troubles in the financial industry, led many to draw parallels with the Great Depression. In the end, the term “Great Recession” stuck. ............(more)

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.bloomberg.com/amp/opinion/articles/2020-04-22/the-coronavirus-recession-will-rival-the-great-depression

[Javaman]

1. i'm so glad my home is paid off. I just have to worry about the property taxes now.

just so much fucking stupidity going on from the orange asshole virus it's hard to comprehend.

[SammyWinstonJack]

13. My motorhome that I live in fulltime is paid for. I just need to buy

some land to put it on. Looking for some in New Mexico.

[MiniMe]

14. Me too.

And electricity. Electricity is high here

[rampartc]

2. i'm not as optimistic as you. i'm thinking dark ages

including serfdom, religious mania, and plague.

[Arthur_Frain]

4. Neo feudalism.

They’re already working as hard as they can to Balkanize the U.S.

[Victor_c3]

7. For those of us fortunate enough to live in a liberal region, Balkanization might not be a bad thing

Other than how it might impact my personal finances as I receive disability benefits from the VA and from the Federal Employee Retirement System (FERS), the area I’m from would be much better off. Federal tax dollars that leave my home state of NY would instead fund the state itself, and not dead-weight red states - whose people don’t even want the programs states like mine disproportionately pay for.

[Arthur_Frain]

12. The deconstruction of the U.S. would be a nightmare in so many ways.

About the time we actually revert to this, I doubt you’d have any entity left to expect benefits from your FERS account. It all depends on how deep the coming depression gets.

Logistically our system is so complex that I don’t think we could agree on how to divest. I’m not sure the idea of one area of the U.S. being “better off” than another is going to carry water for very long.

I just keep thinking about all of the photos I’ve seen of the depression era, the soup lines, etc. There was an orderliness there even in the hopelessness that I don’t think we have anymore. Now take that situation and add all of the guns, and ammo, and nutjobs that we have accumulated in this country.

I have no earthly idea how this all ends. I’m trying to be hopeful, but there are a lot of dreary scenarios I end up imagining.

[no_hypocrisy]

3. It's not just economic deprivation.

It's housing deprivation. It's food deprivation. It's hope deprivation.

Can you be sure that the neighbor you waved to this morning won't try to break into your house to get something to eat in the evening? The breakdown of social order often accompanies an economic crisis like a depression.

[Victor_c3]

8. The need to defend their home with excessive force is a conservative dream come true

Some of these people would like nothing more than to shelter in their prepper-bunkers and to have a half-assed reason to shoot their neighbors. A situation like that would justify a lifetime of their crazy behavior

[no_hypocrisy]

9. And that partially explains the pathological desperation for gun owners

to procure more weapons.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

10. I don't think there was a breakdown of the social order in this country

during the Great Depression.

Movies and TV shows almost invariably portray such things, but I don't really think that matches the reality.

[no_hypocrisy]

11. That was then. This is now.

And you have a LOT of gun owners who aren't exactly buying to add to their collections. They intend to use them for leverage, for threats, to be vigilantes, to be the militia in the 2nd Amendment, whatever.

The Great Depression: Usually it was criminals who had access to guns. Ordinary Americans didn't stock up on weapons and ammo just because Dillinger used them.

[Claustrum]

5. I remember seeing someone post "Make America Great Depression Again" a few months back

I laughed a bit back then. But it's not as funny now. It's sad that it could be a possibility now.

[roamer65]

6. The two main reasons the GD lasted so long was Hoover and the gold standard.

Hoover was reluctant to spend in large amounts and the gold standard shackled dollar devaluation. The Treasury was already down to 40 pct gold backing on paper notes in 1929 and it had dropped to 25 pct by late 1932.
A run on gold in early 1933 allowed FDR to take us off the gold standard and then we got our much needed devaluation.
We are pure fiat money now, so we can create MUCH more money.

[scarytomcat]

15. This is the end of capitalism it is failing