Facts about the Great Depression you should read.

Here are some basic facts about the American Great Depression that I felt you would take interest in.


13 million people became unemployed.
Industrial production fell by nearly 45% between the years 1929 and 1932.
Home-building dropped by 80% between the years 1929 and 1932.
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.
In 1933, 25% of all workers and 37% of all nonfarm workers were unemployed.
Between 1929 and 1932 the income of the average American family was reduced by 40%.

AMERICA HERE WE GO AGAIN... IT SEEMS THE ONLY THING THAT BROUGHT US ABOUT WAS WORLD WAR TWO

I GUESS WE JUST RIDE OUT WHATEVER COMES



[edit on 22-1-2009 by NOTANWOFOLLOWER]

The fearmongering never stops around here, does it?

You're right though, we'll all ride out whatever happens.

WWII only sped up the recovery that was already happening. Without the war it may have taken a lot longer. The government mass spending that was associated with the war was just exactly like a massive economic stimulus plan. Industries were rebuilt and the unemployed put back to work faster than the natural recovery rate.

Yes we are likely going to see another depression, but should a war break out it won't sped up the recovery, but instead destroy us. One major thing we have now compared to then: Nuclear weapons. Compared to normal bombing campaigns nukes are the ultimate economic destruction device, since it destabalizes the area that is nuked, and unless massive efforts are undertaken to clean up the land by removing the soil that is contaminated. This is a peacetime action, which wouldn't be undertaken until the war was over...if anyone was left that is.

Originally posted by NOTANWOFOLLOWER
Here are some basic facts about the American Great Depression that I felt you would take interest in.


13 million people became unemployed.
Industrial production fell by nearly 45% between the years 1929 and 1932.
Home-building dropped by 80% between the years 1929 and 1932.
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.
In 1933, 25% of all workers and 37% of all nonfarm workers were unemployed.
Between 1929 and 1932 the income of the average American family was reduced by 40%.

AMERICA HERE WE GO AGAIN... IT SEEMS THE ONLY THING THAT BROUGHT US ABOUT WAS WORLD WAR TWO

I GUESS WE JUST RIDE OUT WHATEVER COMES
[edit on 22-1-2009 by NOTANWOFOLLOWER]

No way I'm not just riding it out. I'll stop at almost nothing to fight a depression tooth and nail. I think that is what everyone should do if they really care about it.

And furthermore people need to *prepare* so that if (when) does get worse they might know skills like hunting for food and also gardening. Also, pretty much any fruit or vegetable can be dehydrated and stored for years.

If what you post is true.... We are already in a great depression.

We are close to 13mil unemployed right now, as far as what I've heard.

So, we are equal right now, to the Great Depression. Not buying it.

EDIT: typo

[edit on 22-1-2009 by LostNemesis]

Originally posted by LostNemesis
We are close to 13mil unemployed right now, as far as what I've heard.
[edit on 22-1-2009 by LostNemesis]

--my thoughts on comparing the total number of unemployed back then
--as compared to now

i think that number cannot be used in the year 2009

13 million is a total number of unemployed

the number that is relevant for comparison should be the % of unemployed

i don't know what the US population was back then to be able to calculate this

or instead of the total population should we use the number of americans that are 18-65 years of age?

That info was on wikipedia, I was just shocked by it when I came across it, and wanted to share, fear mongering, not my objective, I build constructon equipment for a major us company, we just laid off indefinitely 120 workers yesterday and transfered another 90 to our AG division. So it hits close to home.



[edit on 22-1-2009 by NOTANWOFOLLOWER]

Well I did a little work and came up with this. I got the US population off the net for the years from 1929 to 1935. And with a little math check to put that 13 million in a percent. Here it is. I just checked the unemployment rates and some states are over 10% now

US population----------13 Million based on %
1935= 127,250,232----10.2160914%
1934= 126,373,773----10.2869446%
1933= 125,578,763----10.3520688%
1932= 124,840,471----10.4132898%
1931= 124,039,648----10.4805199%
1930= 123,076,741----10.5625156%
1929= 121,767,000----10.6761274%


[edit on 1/22/2009 by fixer1967]

[edit on 1/22/2009 by fixer1967]

Originally posted by Sir Solomon
WWII only sped up the recovery that was already happening. Without the war it may have taken a lot longer. The government mass spending that was associated with the war was just exactly like a massive economic stimulus plan. Industries were rebuilt and the unemployed put back to work faster than the natural recovery rate.

You can't really say that without any real accuracy. Most recoveries would have run out of steam by the late 30's, plunging the U.S. back into Depression again. WWII IS what brought us out of the Depression. The levels of funding the Govt. was doing would not have been sustainable in a non wartime economy.

reply to post by pavil


The problem with discussing the Great Depression and trying to figure the impact of WWII is that we've got no real baseline comparison for an Industrialized nation in the modern world. The closest we have was the Panic of 1837 which by most historical accounts was at least as bad as the Great Depression. Panic of 1837

Though being similar in percentages the economy still recovered, though it took a while. This was without a central bank to fiddle around with things either. No war was fought and the government did little to help and actually only added fire to the flames by depositing more and more money. Free market eventually healed the wound.

Oddly enough the Panic of 1837 was one that was caused by the switch from specie currency to fiat currency.

Now with the Great Depression in relation to WWII. After bottoming out in 1932, the average industrial output rose, signaling that people were wanting more and they were more confident. In other words, the economy was healing, though with setbacks like any economy has just before the onset of the war economy Industrial Output Graph

If looked at from unemployment, we can see a similar good news graph. Unemployment fell from its high until it spike just before the onset of the war economy which screamed it down further, but there was the downward trend already there. The Dust Bowl had also subsided, which allowed farming to once more happen in the Midwest, this took some pressure off of cities that had had influxes of farmers displaced from their homes as part of this. 1930's unemployment website

The biggest problem that caused the Depression was the excess of supplies on the market of things like grains and livestock, which drove down prices and caused losses to farmers who then couldn't pay their banks, mass loan forefeits=bank closures (sound familiar?). The best thing Roosevelt did was the most controversial: burn excess supply of livestock and grain. This lowered supply back down to a reasonable price where those producing could at least break even and start again, this time under government regulation and with conservation of resources in mind (so another Dust Bowl wouldn't happen). I've actually heard some people suggest Obama should do the same and start burning foreclosed homes to stabalize housing prices. It would be interesting to see how that would be accepted.

Edited to put link to Unemployment Graphs

[edit on 1/23/2009 by Sir Solomon]