I will admit to there being the "chicken little's" in these threads and elsewhere, but, I think for every chicken little there is an ostrich with his head in the sand.

I hope she's right, but I question some of her ideas.

For example:

*Industrial production dropped by 45% during the Great Depression. So far it is down 1.5% this year, led by the downturn in the automotive sector. US manufacturing remains in a recession, however.

It dropped DURING the Depression. We are just starting to feel the ripples on "Main Street" now; obviously production hasn't dropped 45%. It's like comparing apples to wallpaper. We're not "in" a depression, ergo our production won't be reduced by that much. That number wasn't taken BEFORE the Great Depression; we should be comparing production in the months before the bottom dropped out to current numbers.

Also:

*Becker reiterates that the United States had about 25% unemployment during most of the decade from 1931 until 1941, and sharp falls in GDP.

As above, we're comparing the figures incorrectly.


I wish she had done more research and not written an article comprised entirely of quoting an economist and using statistics improperly.

The market needs to correct! We have been riding a wave of over inflated stock prices for several years.8,000 is probably a stable point to settle.The market will undoubtly slip below 8,000 to weed out the weaker companies.
Take heart though,this will afford the creation of new business ventures.

1- Your first assumption is wrong....if it happened before, it can happen again
2-Foxbusinessnews? MSM is bought by corporations
3-During the Great Depression we had a manufacturing base
4-People new how to grow their own food, heat their own homes etc...they were much less reliant on teh gov't
5-The dollar was backed by Gold
6-We had no debt
7-Most people weren't invested in the stock market
8-Most people had farms and could always go back to then(Waltons?)

You can on and on.......when it happens this time, it will be much worse.

.02c

I notice the article is hosted on Fox...

Anyhow, I don't think we're headed for a depression either.

However, saying that the bail outs are necessary are debatable - the US Fed reserve pumped in a record $431 billion on Wednesday into the financial markets, and other central banks around the world have been taking the same action for over a fortnight.

That value is being wiped off stocks everyday.

$700 billion is just going to be inhaled and spat back out.

[edit on 9-10-2008 by mattguy404]

Originally posted by Ismail
Doom and gloom ? I see the collapse of the globalized capitalist system as an opportunity to change things, big time... Doom and gloom is going back to being a wage slave for 50 years, and living like a sheeple in a society which controls my every thoughts and actions.

And what do you think should replace the "globalized capitalist system"?

Originally posted by mattguy404
I notice the article is hosted on Fox...

Anyhow, I don't think we're headed for a recession either.

We're already in a recession; how can we not be headed for one?

Global peace and tolerance. Freedom from the chains of a society which feeds on the poor and the dying third world like a vulture. A ressource based "economy". Truth. Many things could grow out of this. Ten years of hell first, though.

FOX business news! Are you kidding me! Keith Rupert Murdoch! Come on!

Originally posted by Ismail
Global peace and tolerance. Freedom from the chains of a society which feeds on the poor and the dying third world like a vulture. A ressource based "economy". Truth. Many things could grow out of this. Ten years of hell first, though.

It will not be ten years. Optimistically I think maybe 1 year till we see improvement, probably will be 2011 or 2012 realistically.

Originally posted by MarkAkaSilent
FOX business news! Are you kidding me! Keith Rupert Murdoch! Come on!

The source of the article has nothing to do with the statistics posted. Those statistics are facts. Give it up on the Fox News people. They talk about doom and gloom as much as this site.

Gary Becker, a Nobel prize-winning professor of economics at the University of Chicago, notes in a Wall Street Journal editorial that although we are in the most severe financial crisis since the Great Depression of the 1930s, this is a far smaller crisis, especially in terms of the effects on output and employment

I am pretty sure a nobel prize winner for economics knows more about the economy then you Mark. Even if he was interviewed by fox news. Also for someone to criticize fox news and think that Blossom Goodchild GFL ufo's might appear on the 14th should be criticizing any news source.

[edit on 9-10-2008 by tide88]