New Media Meme - The "deep recession" of the 30's - ??

[LeftHander]

With the year figures in everything points to a comparison in percentage of losses that are the worst since THE GREAT DEPRESSION of the 1930's.

Today on NPR I heard the annoucer say the 1931 drop in the stock market for that year occurred during a time of deep recession.

Wasn't the country already in a depression at that time?


I get the sense that there are efforts to deflect public awareness by calling the 1930's a deep recession.


The announcer greatly inflected the word "recession" which told me it was not a mistake. But purposeful edit by NPR news editors.


Keep an ear for the re-writing of history and calling the Great Depression a "deep recession"

[Orrex]

1. Good catch--I haven't heard that one yet, but I'll listen for it

However, I recall quite clearly that at least several civic/history teachers during my academic career went to great lengths to assure us that nothing like the Great Depression (or the Great Deep Recession!) could ever happen again, thanks to regulation and oversight and diversification.

Whew! What a relief!

[fasttense]

2. That was the 1st Republiocn Great Depression.

We are currently experiencing the 2nd Republicon Great Depression.

But the supposed journalists dare not call out the truth. In a few years, economic journalists will be saying that 2008 was the beginning of the 2nd Republicon Great Depression, just like they recently reported that the recession started last year.

[Veritas_et_Aequitas]

3. The Great Depression was caused by two major bear markets/recessions.

The first occurred in 1929/30. It was the fourth worst bear market in the last 100 years. The worst bear market occurred in 1932. That final recession was the final nail in the country's economic coffin and was probably directly responsible for the severity of the Great Depression.

The economic term recession is definitive - a recession is at least two quarters of negative growth (a nice euphemism for a shrinking economy). The economic term depression is more nebulous and there's no single consensus as to what defines it. One proposed (but not accepted) definition states that a depression is a sustained recession in which the population is forced to divest tangible assets to fund everyday living. Another definition states a depression is "marked by a substantial and sustained shortfall of the ability to purchase goods relative to the amount that could be produced using current resources and technology." Yet other definitions rely on looking at inflation/deflation, the state of currency trading, and unemployment rates.

I suspect NPR's editorship chose to emphasize recession over depression because they are trying to combat the notion that the recession as it stands currently is the beginning of a new Great Depression (maybe I'm being generous).

Nevertheless, the fact is we can't guess yet. As things stand now, we are in the fifth worse recession/bear market in the last 100 years. However, this market has the potential to become much worse, and a panicky consumer base would not exactly help the situation.

*I should note that my own figures come from examining the Dow Jones gains and losses since 1900. My statements about bad/worse/worst recessions/bear markets do not include inflation/deflation or unemployment figures.

[lib2DaBone]

4. Rush Limbaugh already working overtime to demonize the word "Socialism"

...the RNC has already said it will block every Obama effort toward a recovery. Rush is spinning in overdrive to label everything as "Socialism". This reminds me of how Rush and friends demonized the word "Liberal".

Listening to callers on Washington Journal on C-SPAN.. the amount of ignorance in the American public is frightening.

It's just a matter of time until Rush and Hannity flip this "deep recession" into the "Obama Recession". I think that is what may be going on here. Sadly, they will get away with it...no problem.

[KansDem]

5. Depression = "deep recession." Torture = "enhanced interrogation."

We're going to have to rewrite the dictionaries after this administration if finally out of office...

[SpiralHawk]

6. These events used to be called PANICS

Then were softened to 'depression' in the 1930s -- and thereafter for propaganda purposes were downgraded to the meek-sounding 'recession.'

But the True Name for what we are now experiencing is:
Republicon Financial Clusterf*ck.

[SOS]

7. Let's give it a 21st Century name - GD 2.0

nt

[ogneopasno]

8. The crash of the stock market did not equal a crash of the economy. It was a long decline that

bottomed out in the early 1930s. Farm prices dropped, jobs evaporated, production dwindled, but not all in November of 1929. I don't think there's any rewriting of history going on.

[dixiegrrrrl]

9. True.

The Depression took awhile to meet economic defintioin, and while genrally the period between 1930 to 1939 is called The Great Depression, the earlier years ( 29, 30, 31, ) were the slippery slope of increasing recession.
That's the technical definition, so to speak.

This is not to take anyting away from the chilling pattern of it, which seems to be repeating today.

btw..the US Gov. bureau that measures the economy today, does not recognize the term depression,
refuses to use it. I saw brief news story about that couple of weeks ago.
Good news, I guess.
We now can never be in a Depression.