Depression

[tinhuvielartanis]

Why isn't anyone calling our situation what it really is ~ a Depression? Do the 1930s have a Monopoly on that term. Sure, it may have started out as a recession, but things just don't seem to be getting any better for anyone and they're getting worse for many. The only way to solve a problem is to correctly identify it first. That way, you know what you're up against and what needs to be done. I know that, if I had any money at all, it wouldn't go anywhere near a bank. I'd stuff it in a mattress or stuff Toby with it after I kill the little bastiche. Whatever it's called, I still have faith that Obama is the one to turn things around. Goddess forbid we had another Republican in a place of power. There'd be work camps popping up everywhere and more wars than we could count on our fingers and toes.

Comments

[polypolyglot.livejournal.com]

This is why I'm preparing myself for an Apocalypse. I grow my own vegetables and I note which of my neighbors are slow and fat.

[tinhuviel.livejournal.com]

Seems like you've got your head screwed on straight.

[boba.livejournal.com]

We have always been at war with Eastasia.

[angstzeit.livejournal.com]

They've been calling depressions recessions for some time now. Sounds better. The real question, as I see it, is whether Obama will jump on the next bubble or actually try to fix some things. If the latter he's probably a one term president.

I think the problem the country has in general is screwed up expectations. We think bubbles are normal. When really there's a general decline in our standard of living. So when reality hits, instead of actually doing something useful about it we sit around and wait for the insanity to return (or if we're the Fed try to spend us back into the insanity) so we can pretend everything is OK again.

But really, can you blame people? I've certainly been happy to ignore reality on occasion with temporary hedonistic fixes. The country is doing the same thing. Unfortunately, it will make the reckoning that much harder when it comes.

[turelie.livejournal.com]

I hate politics....but I hate BOTH main parties. Wipe them all off, start over, I say.

Then again....I'm all for off the grid and ignore the farking government. I've HAD IT. I hope you've got enough faith for both of us.

[falkenna.livejournal.com]

Sentences garnered from Wikipedia:

There is no widely agreed definition for a depression, though some have been proposed. One includes two general rules: 1) a decline in real GDP exceeding 10%, or 2) a recession lasting 2 or more years.
A recession is now often defined simply as a period when GDP falls (negative real economic growth) for at least two quarters.
A severe (GDP down by 10%) or prolonged (three or four years) recession is referred to as an economic depression, although some argue that their causes and cures can be different.[7]

So, using GDP markers (but there are others), we are not in a depression because there have been quarters in both 2009 and 2010 when the GDP rose instead of fell.

Of course, our new crop of complete Vandalsl are bent on trying to get there. Everyone knows you end a recession by putting government money back into the economy. So these assholes are cutting everything in sight, deliberately increasing unemployment (another marker) and ensuring we'll get a double-dip.