—for one thing, in the ‘thirties, over half the population of the U.S. was still basically agricultural—lots of folks could help farm or at least visit country cousins for food-—
You really need to talk to some ppl who lived through the Great Depression. My Mom (had) and my Dad (does) have some interesting things to say. People today would not have survived it, I don’t think.
FDR’s 100 days vs. the 100 days under a RE-PO-BO super-controlled legal system.
Imagine.
Camps, anyone?
Well, I know I would have chickens in my backyard and a garden.
Bookmarking for later.
That you saw people going through a fast food drive through in Escalades and Lexuses (Lexii?) is one indication. They’re cutting back. The local “McCafe” in my suburban/exurban area of the county is booming, the busiest place for miles around, on a Saturday night. It’s surrounded by newish, $500K+ houses, in a state where that’s still a whole lot of house. The better places are extremely easy to get into, and are beginning to look a little empty, when they should be busy. This downscaling will continue.
Wal-Mart and Target will do OK as a whole, people in general will still have to buy basic things, and will scrape and save if they have to, for the occasional “splurge.” It’s just the price of that splurge that will diminish, and continue to do so. It’s the Macys and the Nordstroms that you need to worry about. The Macys nearest me, an unusual, freestanding one, has shortened its hours and does not even leave the exterior lights on at night anymore.
One example of extremes due to the depression would be Asheville, NC. That town was going through boom times right up to the late twenties, with lavish summer homes and stunning buildings going up left and right in the downtown area. Art Deco galore, beautifully restored by now. But, the reason that it was still there, unmolested all these years, is that Asheville collapsed, with many of these palatial buildings boarded up or taken over by the federal government. The Grove Arcade, for one, was home to an agency dealing with climatological data, right up until fairly recently. Look for situations such as this in other, former boomtowns.
But, you’ve got to remember that, as dire as unemployment was during the Great Depression, 75% of the people continued to be employed. Some even prospered. If we are to experience such a deep downturn again, this will likely still be the case.
Then there was an industrial Recession about 1930. Such things usually last about a year. The government met that crisis by tightening credit and raising import taxes (which precipitated foreign countries raising import taxes against our products).
Then, in 1932 the New Deal was swept into office. It continued to restrict credit, let manufacturing business go bankrupt and kept the Smoot Hawley taxes in force (you should read about them), and, then, worst of all, failed to notice we were facing a FAMINE caused by the worst drought in modern American history.
Most of Oklahoma had blown away before Congress acted and no one knows if FDR ever acknowledged that problem.
By that time the Great Depression was underway and the Democrats did nothing whatsoever to put an end to it.
Phase IV occurred the day Ronald Reagan was elected President. He ended the Great Depression and the New Deal in one fell swoop. Tariffs were dropped. Taxes were dropped. Prosperity returned.
Well, for city dwellers, there are plenty of cats and dogs. Enjoy.
“What Would Another Great Depression Look Like Anyway?”
It would look like a Mad Max movie only with less leather and more guns.
You would see even more houses abandoned. Formerly middle-income families living in humble apartments; people who used to live in humble apartments now living in cars.
In the thirties, my 99-year-old mother-in-law tells me, many people lived outdoors, in tent encampments. They kept warm and cooked with campfires. They wore rags. They were not ashamed to go from door to door, begging for food in exchange for a little work—sweeping, shovelling, scrubbing floors, whatever they could put a hand to.
My father-in-law, a baker, found a former executive living in a packing crate not far from their house, brought him home, and befriended him. This kind of fall from financial comfort was far from unusual.
Many families broke up when Father went off to try to find work or food and left Mom and the kids behind.
They tell me that this was also the time when the salesman was king. Back before TV and internet advertising, before “marketing” courses and p.r. agencies, a man had to be pretty good at selling in order to make a living at it. But the man who really could sell did very well and kept his family together. A good salesman who could sell even in hard times was valued.
One difference between the days of the Great Depression and now: back then, no community organization stopped you from having chickens, a goat, maybe even a cow in your suburban or city back yard. If you had a quarter or an eighth of an acre, you grew vegetables and collected those eggs, either to sell or to cook with, and ate the chickens when they didn’t produce well. Today most suburbanites don’t have the legal right to do that; if they try, they’ll land in court. So in this way we don’t have the option of cutting back on food purchases.
We do have one advantage: in many areas the woods are overflowing with excellent dinners. Deer were not so plentiful back in the thirties as they are now.
Imagine no Job and no prospects.
They say a recession is when your neighbor loses his job. A depression is when you lose yours.
My dad's family was not so well off before the depression. I think his father got some kind of job with the WPA. My father has hammer toes from wearing shoes too small as a child.
The thing is, back then everyone around you was pretty much in the same boat and there was no TV to tell you what you didn't have.
The stock market would need to lose 50% of it’s value in like 2 days to equal losses of The Great Depression.
No matter WHAT the fear-mongers are pushing, it’s not going to happen.
Do you know why? If it did, I, a contrarian investor, would be able to buy and sell the lot of you about 100X over, LOL! And I’m not THAT lucky or savvy.
However, cutting back on expenses is NEVER a bad idea in ANY economy. When you HAVE money, you need to save it for a Rainy Day. Because there will ALWAYS be a Rainy Day at some point in your life.
$150 for clothes for your kids? Shop Goodwill, Garage Sales and regular sales. You can outfit each of them for $150 A YEAR that way. Also...buy them the basics. If they want “designer this and that” tell them to get a job and pay for it themselves. (I raised three boys. Cheaply. It can be done.) :)
I’ve always lived on less than I’ve earned. I don’t think my life would change a whole lot if we really were to go into a true depression. If so, me and mine will be fine. Any of us living in The Heartland who still have a lick of common sense will survive.