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Oct. 29, 1929

1940’s

Information & Solutions Past & Present

Depression Soup                                                                     2009 ?

doesn't have a long list of ingredients . Start with a clean 55 gallon drum. Add 50 gallons of water. Several ham hocks or a diced pork roll, one large onion, 2 pounds Collard greens, one whole box elbow macaroni. Place drum on concrete blocks & heat with wood from below. Simmer for one hour, serve

“A Place to Unwind”

During the 1920s, many Americans had begun to equate self-worth with material possessions. Therefore, when times turned bad, people felt worthless. The nation's traditional optimistic outlook was replaced by the reality of economic chaos and confusion. Even among those fortunate or wealthy enough to avoid economic disruption, the Great Depression took a psychological toll. According to Green, psychiatrist's offices were packed in the early 1930s with those from the upper classes attempting to cope with the economic mayhem. The confidence of the average American fell to a general malaise and inertia as unemployment grew and the Depression set in. People waited for something to happen, spinning in circles as they fought to survive.

Suicide became a part of everyday conversation, particularly as the stories of bankrupt Wall Street traders jumping from tall office buildings entered the public mindset. Urban legend regarding mass suicides during the Great Depression far outstripped reality. However, the national suicide rate did increase in late 1929 and continued to increase until 1933—from 13.9 per 100,000 to an all-time high of 17.4 per 100,000. In one widely publicized example, James J. Riordan, president of the New York County Trust Company, killed himself in November 1929 because of the deep shame he felt over losing other people's money, as well as his own loss of funds. Fearing that news of his suicide would cause a run on the bank's deposits, the board of directors did not release a public statement until after the bank closed on Saturday afternoon.

“Remember that there is nothing stable in human affairs; therefore avoid undue elation in prosperity, or undue depression in adversity.”   Socrates  399 BC

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“Concern should drive us into action and not into a depression. No man is free who cannot control himself.”   Pythagoras  500 BC

“Education is a progressive discovery of our own ignorance”

Will Durant

Economy in Crisis

Economic Depression, how will we know...

The Business Cycle is not a regular, predictable, or repeating phenomenon like the swing of the pendulum of a clock. Its timing is random and, to a large degree, unpredictable. A business cycle is identified as a sequence of four phases:

 * Contraction (A slowdown in the pace of economic activity)

 * Trough (The lower turning point of a business cycle, where a contraction turns into an expansion)

 * Expansion (A speedup in the pace of economic activity)

 * Peak (The upper turning of a business cycle)

A recession occurs if a contraction is severe enough... A deep trough is called a slump or a depression.

Richard Sylla, an economic historian at New York University, says that his rule of thumb for a depression would be double-digit unemployment rates lasting for more than a few months. The only times that occurred in the U.S. were during the Great Depression and the 1890s. The deep recession that ended in 1982 briefly saw unemployment rise above 10%.

Rutgers economic historian Michael Bordo says he would define a depression “as a sustained decline in output of 2 or more years of at least 10% per year. If you look at U.S. history we only really had one such event.” –Justin Lahart

Personal Economic Depression...  

“A recession is when your neighbor loses his job, a depression is when you lose yours.”Harry S Truman