How bad will the next "official depression" be ?

[steve2470]

Note I said "official depression", instead of the unofficial one we have just been through.

4 votes, 0 passes | Time left: Unlimited
	There will never again be a depression (super optimistic view)
	0 (0%)
	As bad as the 1929-1941 depression
	0 (0%)
	Not as severe as 1929-1941
	0 (0%)
	More severe than 1929-1941
	4 (100%)
	I have no idea
	0 (0%)
	I don't care
	0 (0%)
	42
	0 (0%)
	Beer
	0 (0%)
	Chocolate
	0 (0%)
	Other (see my post)
	0 (0%)
	0 DU members did not wish to select any of the options provided.
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[Demeter]

1. kickity

the only solution is to get money out of politics and millionaires out of government positions.

[A HERETIC I AM]

2. It was "unofficial" because it wasn't one. n/t

[steve2470]

3. this is the only reason I said what I did...

Bernanke: 2008 Meltdown Was Worse Than Great Depression

http://blogs.wsj.com/economics/2014/08/26/2008-meltdown-was-worse-than-great-depression-bernanke-says/

Former Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, a prominent student of the Great Depression, contends that the 2008 financial crisis was actually worse than its 1930s counterpart.

Mr. Bernanke is quoted making the statement in a document filed on Aug. 22 with the U.S. Court of Federal Claims as part of a lawsuit linked to the 2008 government bailout of insurance giant American International Group Inc.AIG -0.34%

“September and October of 2008 was the worst financial crisis in global history, including the Great Depression,” Mr. Bernanke is quoted as saying in the document filed with the court. Of the 13 “most important financial institutions in the United States, 12 were at risk of failure within a period of a week or two.”

Former Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner is quoted in the document offering a similarly apocalyptic assessment. From Sept. 6 through Sept. 22, the economy was essentially “in free fall,” he said.

It is true he never used the word depression. What we went through was definitely a severe recession, although it's also true that official unemployment was worse in 1982 at a peak of 10.8%.

[A HERETIC I AM]

4. One of the best descriptions I ever heard of the differences between the two....

(and this may have been from Bernanke himself, I don't recall) was that in a recession, an eonomy is brought to it knees.

A depression knocks an economy flat on its back and it can't get up.

Not being NEARLY the historian of the Great Depression Mr. Bernanke is, I would simply say I agree with him , BUT, what he said was the financial crisis was worse this time.

The fact is, not one single red cent of demand deposit money (checking accounts and savings) was lost from 08 through 2010. Not one. With every single bank failure, every depositer was made whole via the FDIC. This was NOT the case in the 1930's. Not by a long shot. The FDIC didn't exist until June of 1933, too late to help many millions of Americans who lost their life savings via bank failuress.


That is a dramatic and fundamental difference.

[steve2470]

5. good points, yes nt