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No ones forgetting about the Great Depression nor implying that there haven't also been other tough times. But the point remains that from a perspective of life

No ones forgetting about the Great Depression nor implying that there haven't also been other tough times. But the point remains that from a perspective of lifetime earnings today we are worse off than we have ever been. The Great Depression wiped away billions if not trillions of dollars of worth but from an economic perspective those dollars were already earned. We can debate all day whether having gained and lost a million dollars is better than having never gained that money to begin with. Also the Great Depression only lasted 10 years to begin with meaning that it didn't even affect a majority of that generations prime earning years. Coupled with the fact that it was immediately preceded and succeeded by periods of incredible growth and you see why you're point isn't really accurate.

dragontamer 11y ago
> But the point remains that from a perspective of lifetime earnings today we are worse off than we have ever been. The Great Depression wiped away billions if not trillions of dollars of worth but from an economic perspective those dollars were already earned. Did you not read my post? I started with the Great Dust Bowl, which completely eradicated an entire generation of farmers. Eight years of drought was a natural disaster on an unfathomable scale. Look, if you were born in 1915, you'd have finished high school right in time for the Dust Bowl. Your entire family's profession of "Farming" or "Ranching" is utterly destroyed. Then, you'd move to the city to look for a job, only to learn that the Great Depression started and there was no hope for you here. You're 20 years old who only knows how to farm. Its 1935. Current networth: $0. Good luck finding a job during the Great Depression. If you're not a farmer and were a city-folk for those years... well now its 1935 and all these dumb homeless, jobless farmers are taking the jobs in the city, leaving no jobs for you. Of course, its the Great Depression and nobody has a job, so maybe you shouldn't be blaming the farmers. In either case, you'd now spend several years homeless, moving between Hoover-villes and shanty towns across the nation, until Pearl Harbor happened and everyone was drafted into the military. You were then forced to fight against either Hitler or the Japs in the bloodiest war the world has ever known. You're now 30 years old, and its 1945. Current networth: $0. That's if you're a lucky one and you weren't killed or maimed during WW2. Now you've come home from the war, and the postwar economic boom is beginning to start finally, but the country now raises taxes all the way to 90%+ to pay off the WW2 Debt. Good luck building a networth with that kind of tax. You're now 35 years old and its 1950. Taxes are high, but you finally have a networth. You finally feel what prosperity feels like, after a pretty tough life, and then father a naive generation that we now call "The Baby Boomers". A group of kids who are so naive that even today in their 60s, they believe in "Get a college education, you'll get a job" and ideals like "children always grow up in better times than their parents". Facts which are pretty much exclusively true for only the Boomers.... and only because the Greatest Generation planted the seeds for their prosperity.
- tunichtgut 11y ago
  I like your comment about the boomers. They are very naive in deed. Work hard and everythings fine...sure...I will get and burn what is left of oil, coal and gas and leave tons of debt to the next generation and when im old, ill tell them, they "dont work hard enough".
jessaustin 11y ago
No ones forgetting about the Great Depression... Anyone who ever recommended or used consumer credit forgot everything important about it.
- dragontamer 11y ago
  Nah man. Just the people who hate on Fractional-reserve banking. Nothing is wrong with consumers using credit. But when banks use credit (far above and beyond the arbitrary 20% number that the Fed has set), then a failure at one bank can cascade against the rest of the banks in the country. People have forgotten that the massive decentralization and massive deflation of the 1930s created the conditions of the Great Depression. Tiny banks were far more correlated with each other due to shoddy lending practices. ------------- People calling for the Gold Standard have forgotten the lessons of the Great Depression. Banning Gold from US Citizens was a major step towards curing the Great Depression: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Executive_Order_6102 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Executive_Order_6102 Once Gold was no longer in circulation, the Fed was able to expand the money supply by printing more dollars than there was Gold to back it. In the coming years, the US would start pulling itself out of the depression caused by Gold Hoarding and loose fiscal policy. Honestly, it was a similar strategy as QE or dropping interest rates that was employed in 2008: the goal was to expand the monetary supply to pump us out of a potential Depression. If anything, its credit that allows us to get out of economic shocks like that. All the Libertarian Gold Bugs seem to forget the lesson of the 1930s however...

dragontamer 11y ago

> But the point remains that from a perspective of lifetime earnings today we are worse off than we have ever been. The Great Depression wiped away billions if not trillions of dollars of worth but from an economic perspective those dollars were already earned. Did you not read my post? I started with the Great Dust Bowl, which completely eradicated an entire generation of farmers. Eight years of drought was a natural disaster on an unfathomable scale. Look, if you were born in 1915, you'd have finished high school right in time for the Dust Bowl. Your entire family's profession of "Farming" or "Ranching" is utterly destroyed. Then, you'd move to the city to look for a job, only to learn that the Great Depression started and there was no hope for you here. You're 20 years old who only knows how to farm. Its 1935. Current networth: $0. Good luck finding a job during the Great Depression. If you're not a farmer and were a city-folk for those years... well now its 1935 and all these dumb homeless, jobless farmers are taking the jobs in the city, leaving no jobs for you. Of course, its the Great Depression and nobody has a job, so maybe you shouldn't be blaming the farmers. In either case, you'd now spend several years homeless, moving between Hoover-villes and shanty towns across the nation, until Pearl Harbor happened and everyone was drafted into the military. You were then forced to fight against either Hitler or the Japs in the bloodiest war the world has ever known. You're now 30 years old, and its 1945. Current networth: $0. That's if you're a lucky one and you weren't killed or maimed during WW2. Now you've come home from the war, and the postwar economic boom is beginning to start finally, but the country now raises taxes all the way to 90%+ to pay off the WW2 Debt. Good luck building a networth with that kind of tax. You're now 35 years old and its 1950. Taxes are high, but you finally have a networth. You finally feel what prosperity feels like, after a pretty tough life, and then father a naive generation that we now call "The Baby Boomers". A group of kids who are so naive that even today in their 60s, they believe in "Get a college education, you'll get a job" and ideals like "children always grow up in better times than their parents". Facts which are pretty much exclusively true for only the Boomers.... and only because the Greatest Generation planted the seeds for their prosperity.

tunichtgut 11y ago
I like your comment about the boomers. They are very naive in deed. Work hard and everythings fine...sure...I will get and burn what is left of oil, coal and gas and leave tons of debt to the next generation and when im old, ill tell them, they "dont work hard enough".

jessaustin 11y ago

No ones forgetting about the Great Depression... Anyone who ever recommended or used consumer credit forgot everything important about it.

dragontamer 11y ago
Nah man. Just the people who hate on Fractional-reserve banking. Nothing is wrong with consumers using credit. But when banks use credit (far above and beyond the arbitrary 20% number that the Fed has set), then a failure at one bank can cascade against the rest of the banks in the country. People have forgotten that the massive decentralization and massive deflation of the 1930s created the conditions of the Great Depression. Tiny banks were far more correlated with each other due to shoddy lending practices. ------------- People calling for the Gold Standard have forgotten the lessons of the Great Depression. Banning Gold from US Citizens was a major step towards curing the Great Depression: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Executive_Order_6102 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Executive_Order_6102 Once Gold was no longer in circulation, the Fed was able to expand the money supply by printing more dollars than there was Gold to back it. In the coming years, the US would start pulling itself out of the depression caused by Gold Hoarding and loose fiscal policy. Honestly, it was a similar strategy as QE or dropping interest rates that was employed in 2008: the goal was to expand the monetary supply to pump us out of a potential Depression. If anything, its credit that allows us to get out of economic shocks like that. All the Libertarian Gold Bugs seem to forget the lesson of the 1930s however...