Life during the Great Depression was a heck of a lot harder than during the "Great Recession."
Although the current economic slump is bad, it truly pales in comparison to the Great Depression. Social safety nets put in place during and after the 1930s helped make the difference. For example, when unemployment rose to 10% nationally in 2009, extended unemployment benefits allowed those job seekers to collect almost two years of government payments. When Depression-era unemployment topped 25% in 1933, no one had unemployment insurance or food stamps or Social Security for retirement or disability. Everyone was on their own to figure out how to survive.
For almost four years at the beginning of the Depression (until Roosevelt took office in March of 1933), Hoover's government did little to bolster either the economy or its people's hopes. By contrast, both the Bush and Obama administrations quickly responded to the financial crisis, attempting to boost the economy and the job market with stimulus packages. In the 1930s, over 9,000 banks failed; in our current recession, that number is less than 500. The FDIC (the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, created in 1934) protects depositors, and there haven't been runs on the banks this time around.
Finally, we don't have a Dust Bowl. During the 1930s, drought conditions plagued the middle of the country, from the Dakotas to the Mexican border. Land that had been over-farmed and over-grazed had no prairie grass to hold it down. Dust blew in great clouds that darkened the skies for days on end and buried whole buildings (as in the picture above). The Dust Bowl turned fertile farmland into millions of acres of useless dirt, and 400,000 people were forced to leave their homes to look for work as migrant workers, refugees within their own country.
Though we may be facing hard times today, just remember: things could be worse.
For almost four years at the beginning of the Depression (until Roosevelt took office in March of 1933), Hoover's government did little to bolster either the economy or its people's hopes. By contrast, both the Bush and Obama administrations quickly responded to the financial crisis, attempting to boost the economy and the job market with stimulus packages. In the 1930s, over 9,000 banks failed; in our current recession, that number is less than 500. The FDIC (the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, created in 1934) protects depositors, and there haven't been runs on the banks this time around.
Finally, we don't have a Dust Bowl. During the 1930s, drought conditions plagued the middle of the country, from the Dakotas to the Mexican border. Land that had been over-farmed and over-grazed had no prairie grass to hold it down. Dust blew in great clouds that darkened the skies for days on end and buried whole buildings (as in the picture above). The Dust Bowl turned fertile farmland into millions of acres of useless dirt, and 400,000 people were forced to leave their homes to look for work as migrant workers, refugees within their own country.
Though we may be facing hard times today, just remember: things could be worse.