Greater Than in the 1930s Depression
The question is “How will it be different from the first?” if and when there is a “next” Great Depression (some may argue that we have already entered the second one, albeit it is concealed from view).
In the United States, the current labour force participation rate is somewhere around 62%, while the current combined U3 and U6 unemployment rates show a 22.8% rate of unemployment. According to reports, 41 million Americans get food stamps, whereas 14% of Americans, depending on family size and income, reside below the “official” poverty line.
The U.S. national debt is on the verge of reaching $20 trillion. According to usdebtclock.org, there are presently 104 trillion dollars in unfunded obligations. The typical U.S. home with debt owes $130,922 (source: time.com), and each household with a credit card carries more than $15,000 in credit card debt.
A Federal Reserve survey found that over half of Americans would need to borrow money or sell something in order to pay for a $400 emergency bill. According to a recent poll (source: GOBankingRates.com), 62% of Americans report having less than $1,000 in savings, while over 30% report having a zero balance. 21% more claim to have no savings accounts at all.
Americans in general are not very affluent. Instead, despite putting on a front of fake riches, Americans are drowning in debt. Most don’t have any possessions. Banks carry on. And what’s this? The banks are also having issues. Since 2008, the Federal Reserve, a private organisation, has effectively been supporting the banks (as well as “the market”); all of this is dependent on even more enormous debt.
Many of the so-called “asset classes” will eventually experience value collapse as they look for their own “true value” when they can no longer be supported, even if the majority of Americans are completely ignorant of the overall picture at this point.
I’ll get back to your inquiry now. What alterations might we expect for the next Depression?
A commentator recently noted that the “great depression” lasted for around 10 years. Considering that 80% of people lived in rural areas resembling farms, I would wager that 90% of those homes already had gardens, livestock, and a huge, deep pantry. If the “greater” depression occurs, there will be over 320 million people in the US as opposed to about 127 million in 1935, and 80% of them live in cities. Just some food for thought.
Another person said, “But the knowledge of surviving is the biggest loss. Many people in the “great depression” managed to live by taking trains to places that required farm labour; try that with the majority of modern city inhabitants. In addition to being physically unable, they are also completely uninformed about agriculture, nature, and—most importantly—cooperation in a rural community.
Several are my own ideas
People had a MUCH GREATER sense of morals, work ethic, and practical skill sets during the Great Depression than they have now.
There are a lot of individuals in our world who have never really struggled. They expect to be looked after because they have been catered to and given goods. When they don’t get their way, they become irate.
People receiving ‘help’ during the Great Depression had to wait in queue to get their payments. It was plain to see. These days, “digital cards” conceal everything. All “appears” normal, even if there are hundreds of people getting benefits that are concealed from view.
Nowadays, almost everything may be financed by a bank loan. There were much fewer individuals taking out loans during the Great Depression era. They had to labour and save to get “it.”
Compared to the years of the Great Depression, family farming and agriculture are almost nonexistent now.
People don’t know how big their garden should be or what vegetables to plant to provide enough calories for their household to survive the winter. In a 10 x 20 garden, a few tomatoes and squash won’t cut it.
How many individuals nowadays are familiar with food preservation techniques like canning? I’d opine: VERY, VERY FEW.
An severe “normalcy bias” affects the majority of Americans, thus a Greater Depression will be surprising and terrible, to put it mildly. Many people will react violently as the cities burn (perhaps literally).
People are NOT educated in the same manner as they were then. Practical knowledge is all but “gone.” Many people used to learn certain technical trades in high school, and others would continue their education at a trade school after that. Nowadays, however, “everyone” (including those who aren’t all that smart) is required to attend “college,” where they are taught political correctness, diversity training, “Dem’s Good – Repub’s Bad,” etc.
Our manufacturing base is now history. We produced ‘stuff’ back in the days of the Great Depression. Making one’s own “stuff” domestically is a nice thing.
In conclusion, I believe that the next Great Depression will be an absolute catastrophe and that when the waves of desperation sweep the nation, it will become violent. It will come back to bite us in the arse because we are different people now than we were before.
Would you want to add anything else?
I firmly advise reading this book: A 304-page book by a doctor, The Home Doctor: Practical Medicine for Every Household, explains how to handle the majority of medical emergencies when aid is not immediately available.
Venezuela is the perfect example of what can happen when things go wrong; there is no electricity, running water, government, or any other essentials like insulin, antibiotics, medicines, or anaesthetics.
However, you must also turn to Venezuela and discover the creative strategies they devised to deal if you want to understand how you can still manage in a circumstance like this.
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