1930s Great Depression. 2011 line. Great depression in the US, my ass. Pictures pretty much say it all.
US is not in a depression as an entire entity, but a very large subset is. That is why we are at inning one of class warfare. It is almost as if people are stupid and close their eyes to what is going on. There are say 150,000,000 million elligeble workers in the US. Of those, maybe 100,000,000 have jobs. Of those, maybe 30,000,000 are doing well so as not to have to worry about overspending. So of the total 150,000,000, 120,000,000 people are living paycheck to paycheck, many at the poverty level. That still leaves 30,000,000 people that can shop to their hearts content. So let's see, there are maybe 100,000 people in that place and surrounding stores shopping. Multiply that by 50 states. That is 5 million people of the 30,000,000 that can shop comfortably. What the fuck don't you understand?
Your top pic is spot on for today's depression -- it's called SNAP. If SNAP and unemployement bennies didn't exist you'd see bread lines exactly like that. Housing and unemployment is in an absolute depression. You don't see lines of people sitting behind construction fences waiting for a job -- they are on the internet filling out electronic applications and/or at school borrowing money to update their skills. There isn't a "face" to this depression but it absolutely is a depression! And those folks on Black Friday? It's called credit cards. That didn't exist in the 30's. Take those away and the lines are empty. This isn't your grandfather's depression. It's OUR depression.
and....in the 30's the Fed REDUCED the money supply. In this depression they did the exact opposite. Why do you think the national debt is into the stratosphere.
Another big difference is that 1930s U.S. dollar was not a reserve currency. The Fed tightened money then to depress assets prices and took ownership of them in U.S. As reserve currency now, the Fed print dollars to export inflation and let member banks scoop up asset around globe including U.S. Americans are not the worst sufferers except loosing their homes. Others are in desperation, started revolutions.
not to mention Black Friday wasn't around in the 30's.. one of the best promotional gimmicks in our era.
What I don't get though is the guys in the 1930s shot were wearing suits and jackets, etc. for the most part. These days if you had no money and no job, how would you get a nice grouping of suits, etc. Maybe they had the wrong priorities. The guys in the current picture look like bums in comparison I will admit! JJacksET4
The people in the great depression lost their money due to bank closures and lost savings. In other words they had money until a sharp collapse. Clothes last a long time and they would have them from the prosperous period. On another note those pictures were taken from the worst part of the depression. This has not happened yet. It will.