BLOGS BY BOB

The doomsayers on TV are continually reminding us that we may be headed for another “Great Depression,” the worldwide economic downturn that lasted from 1929 until 1942.  While the Roosevelt administration was making progress during those bleak years the depression could easily have been longer had it not been for World War ll and the massive spending it required.  I don’t want to downplay our current miseries.  Things are bad and millions are suffering but it is far too early to compare our present state of affairs to the great depression.

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Yes, we are in a very bad recession that, according to some experts, began in 2007.  At last report our unemployment rate in the U.S. was around 8%, a far cry from the depths of the depression when non-farm unemployment was at 37%.  For this blog I wanted to offer some information on just how bad the great depression was.   Keep in mind, too, that not only were we in the throes of economic strangulation we were further disabled by one of the worst droughts in history— a drought so bad that our famed “breadbasket” was unable to produce much and millions of people were forced off their farms and into the devastated cities.  Breadlines were common, healthcare was nonexistent and tent cities or “Hoovervilles” were not unusual (Grapes of Wrath the movie starring a young Henry Fonda, tells the story quite well).

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Wikipedia, a wonderful source of objective information offers the following on the great depression.  Remember that in 1929 the population of the U.S. was about 122 million.  Today it is estimated to be about 305 million.  Here’s what Wikipedia says: (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Depression) (click on the numbers in parentheses for more information.

Wikipedia; Effects of depression in the United States^[53]:

• 13 million people became unemployed. In 1932, 34 million people belonged to families with no regular full-time wage earner.^[54]
• Industrial production fell by nearly 45% between the years 1929 and 1932.
• Homebuilding dropped by 80% between the years 1929 and 1932.
• In the 1920s, the banking system in the U.S. was about $50 billion, which was about 50% of GDP.^[55]
• From the years 1929 to 1932, about 5,000 banks went out of business.
• By 1933, 11,000 of the US’ 25,000 banks had failed.^[56]
• Between 1929 and 1933, U.S. GDP fell around 30%, the stock market lost almost 90% of its value.^[57]
• In 1929, the unemployment rate averaged 3%.^[58]
• In 1933, 25% of all workers and 37% of all nonfarm workers were unemployed.^[59]
• In Cleveland, Ohio, the unemployment rate was 60%; in Toledo, Ohio, 80%.^[54]
• One Soviet trading corporation in New York averaged 350 applications a day from Americans seeking jobs in the Soviet Union.^[60]
• Over one million families lost their farms between 1930 and 1934.^[54]
• Corporate profits had dropped from $10 billion three years ago to $1billion in 1932.^[54]
• Between 1929 and 1932 the income of the average American family was reduced by 40%.^[61]
• Nine million savings accounts had been wiped out between 1930 and 1933.^[54]
• 273,000 families had been evicted from their homes in 1932.^[54]
• There were two million homeless people migrating around the country.^[54]
• One Arkansas man walked 900 miles looking for work.^[54]
• Over 60% of Americans were categorized as poor by the federal government in 1933.^[54]
• In the last prosperous year (1929), there were 279,678 immigrants recorded, but in 1933 only 23,068 came to the U.S.^[62][63]
• In the early 1930s, more people emigrated from the United States than immigrated to it.^[64]
• New York social workers reported that 25% of all schoolchildren were malnourished. In the mining counties of West Virginia, Illinois, Kentucky, and Pennsylvania, the proportion of malnourished children was perhaps as high as 90%.^[54]
• Many people became ill with diseases such as tuberculosis (TB).^[54]
• The 1930 U.S. Census determined the U.S. population to be 122,775,046. About 40% of the population was under 20 years.^[65]

Again, while I seek not to downplay our current travails I think it is important to have some perspective.  Do we need action?  Yes!  Can we let this continue?  No!  Is President Obama on the right road?  To be honest no one can say.  We simply don’t know.  We can only pray he is doing the right thing.  I for one, do not want him to fail because to do so dooms all of us. 

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