My great Grandparents held on to their farm through the depression because they weren’t in debt.
From what I hear, there were farmers and workers in the 20s/30s who were convinced by the Gov and the banks to invest in stocks and such that were doomed to fail.
I'm seriously taking action to get that way myself quickly because I fear that the trillion(s) dollar Obama bailout will cause our current deflationary recession/depression to violently swing the other way and create a hyper-inflationary depression.
Anyone in debt when/if hyper-inflation hits will likely lose everything as their loan rates are adjusted to keep up with the hyper i rate. I just wish I could come up with a way to save my 401K from becoming worthless if hyper-i happens. As long as I work for the Company, I can't withdraw it except for a loan that maxs at 50K, and that has to be paid back.