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I would go with worse, but only on some counts(the gas lines in the 70's= horrible). I was young, but not in diapers. Back then my savings was earning something like 8%, I think. Now so many are hoping that retirement accounts don't lose 8%.. I can't imagine how good the rates on those used to be (my paper route didn't have a 401K).
I don't think that this a recession anymore...I believe that this now a depression. This recession has been running for a couple years already with not even a hint that the economy is on rising or hedging upword.
What don't you have? Even folks on welfare have cable TV.
Find a job, there are jobs out there. Even gas is cheap.
This is not a depression -- unless you want it to be.
Get outside and do something. You might find value in that. You might meet new people, make new friends and realize new opportunities that you may never have had if you decided to sit on the couch all day, and complain about the depression.
So far not yet. We're only beginning to see the unemployment rates rise, but not yet to the level they were in the 1970's.
People here seem to think if they can't buy a new $600 Nintendo Wii player ever year that times are very tough. Or their middle school age kid can't have an iPhone and instead has to make do with unlimited text messages on a plain camera cell phone so things are getting tight.
We're not even close. People have internet service, the latest computer with all the options to complain about how bad things are. They haven't seen bad.
What don't you have? Even folks on welfare have cable TV.
Find a job, there are jobs out there. Even gas is cheap.
This is not a depression -- unless you want it to be.
Get outside and do something. You might find value in that. You might meet new people, make new friends and realize new opportunities that you may never have had if you decided to sit on the couch all day, and complain about the depression.
The malls and Walmarts here are packed full with shoppers.
People today have no idea what hard times are. My grandfather told me that back in the depression, it wasn't a matter of what you were going to buy, there was nothing to buy.
We've got welfare recipients out right now choosing what size big screen television they'll buy next. Like you said welfare recipients have cable television and internet service. They have cell phones, and new clothes.
So far not yet. We're only beginning to see the unemployment rates rise, but not yet to the level they were in the 1970's.
People here seem to think if they can't buy a new $600 Nintendo Wii player ever year that times are very tough. Or their middle school age kid can't have an iPhone and instead has to make do with unlimited text messages on a plain camera cell phone so things are getting tight.
We're not even close. People have internet service, the latest computer with all the options to complain about how bad things are. They haven't seen bad.
I agree. I believe this is because the dominant generation today (those born between 1982 and 1995) have never lived through a real recession, and Generation X was still in school when the last big one hit. Unlike most of my generation who are oblivious to anything before they were born, I know my history very well. The 1991 and 2001 "recessions" were jokes from a historical perspective. Even the Nixon and Carter recessions were mild compared to the Great Depression. When Obama says this is the "worst economy since the Great Depression" he is playing on fear.
I agree. I believe this is because the dominant generation today (those born between 1982 and 1995) have never lived through a real recession, and Generation X was still in school when the last big one hit. Unlike most of my generation who are oblivious to anything before they were born, I know my history very well. The 1991 and 2001 "recessions" were jokes from a historical perspective. Even the Nixon and Carter recessions were mild compared to the Great Depression. When Obama says this is the "worst economy since the Great Depression" he is playing on fear.
Yes, I believe Obama is trying to stoke the fires, cause people watching him on their big screen televisions to believe it's time to panic.
Unemployment is creeping up to about 6%, there were times in the Great Depression where it was 30%. That was back when many more families relied on just one income, today, one spouse could be making $100,000 and the other is laid off and counts as unemployed.
There are no soup lines, people today can collect unemployment until it runs out, then they can apply for welfare or disability, food stamps, Medicaid. That wasn't the case in the 1930s.
I have not heard of anyone starting a backyard garden from any necessity, it's still a hobby for those who enjoy it, no one feels a real need to garden and that was quite common in the 1930s.
In the 1930s, people wore coats that were so worn and bare, they would insert newspaper or cardboard to stay warm. They would put cardboard in the soles of their shoes which had holes. Their children even wore hand-me-downs -- gasp!!
Kids didn't have $500 game players on their Christmas lists, they were happy to get a hand-carved toy, a single doll, even oranges at Christmas were considered a treat.
It's almost funny to hear people still living high-on-the-hog complain about how tough times are because they really don't know what tough times mean.
I don't think we are as bad off as we were then, but if things don't improve, and sooner rather than later, then that might change.
What do you think?
I wonder how many people responding were working adults during the 70's recession. Those of us who were are probably in a different stage of life right now anyway.
What don't you have? Even folks on welfare have cable TV.
Find a job, there are jobs out there. Even gas is cheap.
This is not a depression -- unless you want it to be.
Get outside and do something. You might find value in that. You might meet new people, make new friends and realize new opportunities that you may never have had if you decided to sit on the couch all day, and complain about the depression.
Have you been looking through the posted jobs? There isn't much out there with the exception of fast food unless the previous poster has a bachelor's and then the competition would be stiff. It was big news locally that an amusement park was having a job fair and I live in a fairly hevily populated area. I work in HR recruting at a 3,000 person facility and we do not have anything posted externally or internally. With the number of people in the unemployment lines, I think it was a tad insensitive to say... go get a job..my company is cutting 7,000 out of 180,000 nationwide.
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. Back then my savings was earning something like 8%, I think. Now so many are hoping that retirement accounts don't lose 8%.. I can't imagine how good the rates on those used to be (my paper route didn't have a 401K).
