Reply #13: We don't have unemployment comparable to the '30s

[tclambert]

Not yet, anyway. What we have now is NOT as bad as the '30s. It it like 1929. The credit industry has built a house of cards (credit cards?), but if we can prevent a vicious feedback loop from forming, we can stop the dominoes from falling. (Sorry for the mixed metaphor, but that's what I needed.) What we have here is a chance to head off a second Great Depression, IF we learned from the first one. McCain and the deregulators clearly did not.

Some textbook long ago said the solution to the Great Depression was actually the massive jobs program known as World War II. I will say again, it's all about jobs.

One advantage we have now over 1929, is that this is an election year. We can change direction now, hopefully before it gets too bad. In '29, they had to wait over three years to get a new leader who would DO something. We only have to wait a little over 3 months.