For my wife and I, there already is a depression. Like many americans, we thought we had the ability to relocate to another part of the country without fear of personal economic catastrophy. We arrived at our new home in the desert southwest just in time for Wall St. to dictate our future. We both left good jobs in Missouri with good resumes, fuguring on reducing our overhead by taking lower paying jobs. We did not expect to have NO jobs. We have lived off of savings.
I don't know where the author of this artile gets the idea that it presents any sort of soultion for preparing for a depression. Without employment, there is no way of continuing to build retirement funds. There seem to be folks in this country who are so insolated from reality that they don't understand the simple fact that when a household has no income, it cannot invest in anything.
I must point out that Mr. Pethekoukis wrote this article from the elitist perspective that the current recession isn't effecting. Our Grandparents lived through the Great Depression and told stories about what it was like. Many of the educated idiots who write these articles assumed that those people were uneducated, therefore told their side in simplistic terms. Try doing without money, food and everything inbetween. That is what it was like.
The biggest difference between then and now is that we are all connected through the internet. Social communities have emerged. If those who were in political office wanted to hear how their bad policies effect the people in our country, they would pay attention to those voices instead of lining their pockets with bribes.
No, there won't be a depression. This country is headed for a class war. Civil wars begin this way. We have a mercinary military, who will be forced to choose between loved ones and neighbors. The public is becoming fed up. Our elected officials have turned their backs on the american dream.
Mr. Pethokoukis, your article was overshadowed (rightly so) by the comments. Next time you want to report a newsworthy story, perhaps you should present it based on the current effects toward the folks you had in mind when you began talking down to them.
Ben VanHoose
of AZ
@
Aug 13, 2009 13:09:48 PM
We have no Capitalism anymore in USA - it's So Monopolism now
During past 10-15 years of "global economic" reform and "free trade" our Feds and financial clans have been successfully working on conversion of our system into monopolistic body with socialistic engine. They wanted to give birth to an ugly mutant and they did it. I call the new system Mastrubism, or you give it your name. It's partly socialism due to high spending on people at the bottom and free huge money for selected by government leading giants/companies in their industries. This reminds me Soviet Union/USSR a lot. We used to have full government control of all industries starting with manufacturing, then distribution to warehouses and ending with large government controlled chains of small and large stores/retailers. That basically what's going on now slowly but surely here in USA. Government taking over large giants by borrowing them fresh printed money which costs government almost nothing. This is hidden type of step-by-step privatization of these formerly privately own chains. This is why government was demolishing our normal capitalistic economy starting from 1970 by almost uncontrolled import of import cars and other products and making local manufacturers go out of business. It started with manufacturers, then professionals such as programmers and engineers in 2000 and up. Then the most deadly hit was introducing and empowering by credits and patronage "small business killer chains" like Walmart, Kmart, HomeDepot, Lowe's, Staples, Target, BestBuy, Sears, Marshals, Liquidator, Ikea, etc. They all say to us "Save More, Live Better" or "More Saving, More Doing". Oh yes! However what they not telling us, that we eventually will close most of our small businesses operated by us, our family members, friends, neighbors, etc. Who will benefit from buying from these stores? Mostly people in need who are on government assistance, people with stable jobs with stable companies, government employees, and similar individuals. If you have more money then you can spend per month you will survive without going to this kind of large stores which are basically working for government now. The goal here is to socialize the retail industry by slowly and surely killing small independent retailers with "price beating"/ "wholesale to public" concepts and tools. Who is wining here? Nobody, but government and its direct investors/clans. What it does to our Capitalism and USA market? It kills it. The first rule of Capitalism is to protect small businesses and local manufacturers from monopolists in their industries. There are has to be no blood sucking giants, if we want to preserve healthy capitalism and its creative spirit. Government was created to protect small businesses from giant monopolies and uncontrolled imports. It failed to do so and sold its soul to clans. Every smart and talented small business owner knows that it's impossible to fight a wholesale to public giant, and most of businesses give up to fight or just not being given new births anymore.
AC
of NY
@
Jul 19, 2009 04:52:16 AM
the blame; remember
Always remember who got us here. George Bush (a reagonite job exporter) and his 'free market' deregulators did this to us. A society without laws gives you chaos. Wall Street without regulartors gives you this mess we're in!
Dennis
of IL
@
Jul 02, 2009 22:18:41 PM
the blame; remember
Always remember who got us here. George Bush (a reagonite job exporter) and his 'free market' deregulators did this to us. A society without laws gives you chaos. Wall Street without regulartors gives you this mess we're in!
Dennis
of IL
@
Jul 02, 2009 22:17:43 PM
depression
I have been unemployed for months now and the cutesy article makes me puke.
What planet did you come from btch? Mars?
Get a life stupid blogger.
DaveH
of NC
@
May 21, 2009 20:31:31 PM
get involved
this mess, depression or not, is a result of politicians meddling with economics. The housing crash didn't have to happen.
What to do? Get informed and get involved and vote these bums out.
Pat
of IN
@
Mar 09, 2009 21:59:17 PM
Good BUT...
You forget to add that a critical element of cooking up a depression is that the FED is once again printing money out of thin air just like in the GREAT DEPRESSION. The FED was a major contributor then and is still NOW at the core of the problem.
Bruce
of VA
@
Mar 08, 2009 20:27:51 PM
handling a depression
it is counterintuitive but the best way to handle it is to keep spending thereby maintaining the market. not that you should spend extravagantly but by not spending you are feeding the downturn. find ways to produce more income and maintain spending will minimize the length of the recession. it is a cliche put crisis does mean opportunity, the innovators will flourish as established but moribund enterprise make way for new blood.
David
@
Mar 07, 2009 19:57:36 PM
Sure. A depression. Yep.
We are in a depression. I know it. As I drove to my own home from work in my own car on a crowded highway, I stopped at the ATM to get some cash, filled up my gas tank and got a few groceries. I walked in the door of my house, went to the refrigerator, and got a cold one. As I sipped my drink in front of my high-def, big-screen TV, waiting for supper to finish, sure enough - there was a cable TV commentator telling me that we are, in fact, in a depression. "Could that be true?", I wondered. To verify it, I picked up one of our 2 laptop computers and hopped on the Internet using my high-speed connection. Sure enough, there were several magazine websites saying the same thing. So, now I know how those folks who suffered through the Dust Bowl during the Great Depression felt. My gosh, how could this have happened again? We need government handouts! If I can schedule a day off from my job, I will head to the nearest welfare office. What a country!
JM
of OH
@
Mar 07, 2009 16:41:04 PM
Whose depression is it?
Another weekend of unemployment looms ahead of me. I keep trying to find any Recovery programs, activities, services, etc that might actually have an effect on individuals. However, the only thing I keep reading about in all the different Whitehouse blogs, news, transparency postings or any other area with information is about the programs to help build roads, bridges, aviation and other such projects. I would like to know how much funding is being filtered down to the actual people who are providing the funds. I mean all this money that is being printed up is money coming mainly from individual taxpayers, right? If it wasn't then all the big bail outs would not have needed to occur. If all the big businesses that have recently been bailed out had money to pay their taxes then they would not have had to been bailed out right? So behind all this great recovery efforts and accountability transparency where is the money coming from and why don't the people supplying the money get to just elect to give their own money back to themselves (sort of a self bail out) instead of it going to corporations? I mean give me a break, with the bailout money, the current cheap labor available because of high unemployment; they will be making money.
It seems like a very basic and easy question to answer. Why can't any of the great economic planners, recovery advisors and speech makers give us a simple answer, instead of just going around and around about why we are at this point in our nation and how we have to bear through it?
I say to all the taxpayers whose money is being used, just take it back tell your local government representatives that you chose not to give the money away; in fact, you would like all the money that has been given out in the great bail outs back and please put your share of it into your savings, checking, or retirement account thank you very much.
Ben VanHoose of AZ @ Aug 13, 2009 13:09:48 PM
AC of NY @ Jul 19, 2009 04:52:16 AM
Dennis of IL @ Jul 02, 2009 22:18:41 PM
Dennis of IL @ Jul 02, 2009 22:17:43 PM
DaveH of NC @ May 21, 2009 20:31:31 PM
Pat of IN @ Mar 09, 2009 21:59:17 PM
Bruce of VA @ Mar 08, 2009 20:27:51 PM
David @ Mar 07, 2009 19:57:36 PM
JM of OH @ Mar 07, 2009 16:41:04 PM
mary of TX @ Mar 07, 2009 16:07:40 PM
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