A few things. First, this is a global recession. I would not expect unemployment in the US to be as bad now as it was during the Great Depression simply because

A few things. First, this is a global recession. I would not expect unemployment in the US to be as bad now as it was during the Great Depression simply because the US occupies a different place in the global economy today. In 1929, the US was the manufacturer and creditor of the world - a position China occupies today. I would expect the urban unemployment rate in China to reach the high teens, maybe higher. China is likely already technically in a recession (their 6.8% 4th quarter GDP growth is a mirage. It is calculated year-on-year, rather than annualized, seasonally adjusted quarter-on-quarter. Hence, their 4th quarter was more likely zero or negative, and the first quarter of this year will be worse). Japan's economy is falling off a cliff at -13%. And Europe is in awful shape too; Germany's exports have died, and Eastern Europe is already in a depression scenario with 10% contraction nearly across the board. The question is where is the demand going to come from? No one can export their way out of this mess. Many sovereign states could default as well - small European countries with large banking sectors relative to GDP are at huge risk - and social unrest will likely only get worse. This is bad. Second, Japan achieved roughly 1% growth annually during its lost decade, and that was with spending hundreds of billions on stimulus programs. Without that spending, Japan likely would have had years of negative growth. That is not a hopeful model of where our economy is headed.