I wonder sometimes about the self-manifestation of problems…

I hope not. :(

The FDIC didn’t exist in 1929, so there’s that. But on the flip side, individual debt is higher and the global economy is in worse shape.

If shit goes down I am running to the grocery store, getting 300 cans of beans, some dried nuts, a few chocolate chunk cookies – then i’ll be boarding up my house and settling in for the long haul.

The great depression had folks living in tent cities and an increased crime rate as people fought off starvation. I do not think we are there yet and am hoping we do not end up there.

We whine if we lose internet for a few hours. This generation would really fall hard.

Most people are prepared anyway.

The purposelessness of it all—“the America of chain stores, and muscle cars, and grown men obsessed with video games, drugs, and pornography”—
Maybe this is the “cleansing” we need now?

@btko “self-manifestation of problems”—I want in the door of what ever bubble you are referring to, or a prescription for what ever it is that makes you think so…..

“the America of chain stores, and muscle cars, and grown men obsessed with video games, drugs, and pornography”—

None of that stuff is “new”.

For centuries agoras have been hocking useless shit. Instead of muscle cars it was how big your chariot was, video games replace all kinds of sport men have been obsessed with. Drugs, pornography… more potent, but that’s all.

Just pointing how that list is not limited to now, or America.

@allengreen They say that the pendulum swings from one extreme to another so time will tell. However I disagree with the muscle car reference. Muscle cars have historic value of the glory days of gasoline engines. No cars currently on the market can compare to that era. The relatively few remaining true muscle cars make a very little dent on the vast consumerism of this generation.

I know my teen daughter cannot fathom what my grandparents suffered through in the great depression.

@ allengreen, I am not saying that the question above isn’t happening.. i’m just wondering if some problems arise because we want them to.

@btko—I misunderstood

No.

Nothing that happens can ever minimize the pain and disruption of the Great Depression.

I’m assuming your name “allengreen” is a phonetic coincidence… I think we will be ok. I have absolutely nothing to back this optimism up with.

You should consider that economy is ciclical. Given that we will pass the “storm we are sailing into now”, and I am sure we will, it will sooner or later come another moment in the next future with similar features. Like it was 1929*.
Imagine that we have moved from a balance position to an unbalanced one. Crisis come to re-establish the equilibrium we have lost (or to establish a new one). And this can be quite painful although is actually a natural process.
Once we will find the new equilibrium, we’ll start to grow once more, messing around and getting far from the balance little by little, or faster than ever, until we reach the non-returning point and a new storm will bring us back to start again.

Consequences? Still not that clear.
Remedies? It’s rather complicated. On a day by day, common citizen/consumer basis I would reccomend to limit the abuse of credit cards. I honestly think it is insane to spend 130–140% of the monthly income. The average American has around $ 9,000 credit card debt. If you cannot afford it don’t buy it.

*with that I am not expressing any judgment or comparison between the consequences of 1929 depression and current times.

@ Dog: there’s a tent city near me in Ontario, California (or maybe it’s Corona) – full of working people who’ve been foreclosed on.