Poll: Are we heading toward another great depression?

With the stock market going up and down by 200-300 points a day (a lot like it did just a few years ago just before it headed south big time), it's time to ask if you feel that there is any potential for another great depression.

Some of this seems silly. If you are really wondering about the reality of a depression, come over to my neck of the woods & get a realistic, in person understang of what depression really is in this day & age--not the past. Talk to some of the family farmers that have been struggling to keep decent cloths on thier kids backs & pay taxes on farms that have been in thier families for 100 yrs or so. I'd give my opinion on cyber polls, but I'm pretty sure most working grunts already know.

They reason I say no: During the Great Depression, there were no jobs. In this economy, there are plenty of jobs; however, the problem is: Available jobs don't pay anything, don't have benefits, and no retirement plan. If you're lucky, you make enough money to barely pay your bills and taxes... You have no savings and no chance of retirement... You'll basically work until you die; then, they'll wheel in your replacment, who makes less than you did...

Our only chance: Bring manufacturing back to the United States. Stop buying foreign made products. Only buy products made in the U.S.A. Prior to buying anything, check where it was made. We have to support U.S.A. companies first. We've been buying everything foreign for the last 30 years---most of the time with the perception foreign made products were cheaper and higher quality. While we were buying all this foreign crap our greedy corporate CEOs sent any remaining manufacturing jobs to Mexico, China, Vietnam, etc. due to legislation like NAFTA.

Next time you're out for a drive start comparing the number of foreign; versus, domestic vehicles. And Toyotas with "final assembly" in Ohio don't count: All Toyotas are designed in Japan; and, all the profits go back to Tokyo.

I'd be willing to bet that not all of the Toyota profits go back to Japan. Just ask the folks that work for Toyota in North Carolina is it?

I do however agree with buying local first, then USA second but it gets harder all of the time when your wage doesn't even keep up with the cost of groceries lately.

freetown fred wrote:Some of this seems silly. If you are really wondering about the reality of a depression, come over to my neck of the woods & get a realistic, in person understang of what depression really is in this day & age--not the past. Talk to some of the family farmers that have been struggling to keep decent cloths on thier kids backs & pay taxes on farms that have been in thier families for 100 yrs or so. I'd give my opinion on cyber polls, but I'm pretty sure most working grunts already know.

I agree with freetown on this,,, i see it in my neck of the woods also. I hope i'am wrong but i think we are headed for a depression

My area is much like Theo's & Fred's, been this way for a long time there will be a McMansion & then next door an old mobile, must really PO some people. I don't think we will hit another depression for the simple reason that it would hit the big boys as well. I was always told that the difference between a recession & depression is when your neighbor is out of work it's a recession, when both you & him are out of work it's a depression. As much as a lot of people are suffering right now there are others that are making more than ever.

Call it what you will these are tough times all around. Almost everyone I know has a story to tell. Watkinsdr is right if we all search out American even if we do pay a little more it will keep things moving in the US and that will mean better chances for us all. It is not easy finding made in the USA however, the big boxes carry very little of it. Try buying a new pair of boots!!

Actually, FAR worse than a depression. I am SO glad I live on a dead end street in the middle of no where.......

cabinover wrote:I'd be willing to bet that not all of the Toyota profits go back to Japan. Just ask the folks that work for Toyota in North Carolina is it?.

"Profit" is what's left over after everyone gets paid.

Don't forget that those profits get shared with U.S. shareholders, if I remember right the shares were held by many U.S. citizens that tried to sue Toyota after their dividends dropped drastically. The Supreme Court disallowed the shares that were bought on foreign exchanges, could be that most of those profits are never taxed by our Gov.but the money comes here just the same.

There was 25% unemployment in the Great Depression. We are inching toward that number today.

In 1929 a bubble burst and the Fed made it worse. When WW 2 forced a release of money the depression receded.

Today the easy money is used to prop up government employ, state and Federal and even increase it at the expense of the private economy from which wealth is derived. Years of misapplication of funds in education, health care, the military and expanding government has resulted in what we have today.

Debt is so high that it can never be repaid. Refusing to admit this and unable to face the upheaval that market forces would create in correcting debt we will stagger along with ever increasing inflation and stagnation as the only means to delay the inevitable.

franco b wrote: When WW 2 forced a release of money the depression receded.

I'm not sure about this. It's not like everyone was sitting on cash waiting for something to spend it on.

The Depression ended AFTER WWII because we were the only people left with any manufacturing ability. Italy, England, Germany and Japan were decimated. All their manufacturing plants were military targets.

During the war, civilians lived with rations, gave the government every spare penny buying war bonds, and all government spending was on non consumer goods.

Not much there to boost the economy.

jpete wrote:During the war, civilians lived with rations, gave the government every spare penny buying war bonds, and all government spending was on non consumer goods.

Not much there to boost the economy.

Civilians lived with rationing, not on rations.

The government ran up a huge debt both by borrowing from the Fed and civilians. There was a huge infusion of cash into the private economy to build war plants and to produce the materiel of war.

After the war a brand new Chevy cost $800, but very few got one at that price as inflation took hold, both from increased money supply and from the savings of workers who found very little to spend it on during the war. Workers were flush with money and industry was happy to supply the want. The economy boomed, at least for a few years.

Nothing to do with nothing or probably a lot to do with something.. In the Darien, New Caanan Ct. area, there are many very large estates that had iron/steel fences from which the owners took the pillars/stakes & gave them for the war effort. Some still stand that way. We were a Country united back when & I believe we will see it again, hopefully in my time, or not.

I'm with you Fred, there was a time when this country was at war or under attack everyone would willingly do whatever they could for our country. Now it seems like many just want to see whats in it for them while the few do battle. I do hope I live long enough to see a United States once again.