The economic numbers leading up to the Great Depression were very good.

[shockey80]

History shows us good economic numbers are not alone an indication of a healthy economy. You have to look at what is driving those numbers. For the most part the numbers were very good during the 20s. There was a couple of bumps in the road, but the economy bounced back quickly.

During the 20s unemployment were numbers were low. The stock market was doing well. Americans were buying houses, cars and appliances. They took on a lot of personnel debt.( Dangerous)

Behind all the good numbers very bad policies were being put in place. The rich were given giant tax cuts, Roughly 75% to 25%. The top 1% owned 1/3 of all assets, Its higher now. When you give large tax cuts to the rich they get fat and lazy. They do not invest back into the country or the people, the workers. You must tax the rich and invest that money back into the people for long term health and growth of the economy.

In the 20s there was deregulation or a lack of regulations on banks. In my opinion this is the biggest threat to our economy. 2008 was a perfect example. You can never trust banks. They will take big risks and they could and have taken down the world economy.

In the 20s and early 30s tariffs were put in place. The govt. put limits on immigration. Unions were attacked. Large segments of the population were attacked or ignored. There was a rise in racism. WW1 vets were ignored and left to fend for themselves. Does any of this sound familiar?

Many factors caused the great depression, these are just a few. Most have been put in place today by Trump and the Republicans. They do not listen to history which makes them insane fools.

In my opinion Trumps attack on regulations is by far the biggest threat for all of us. History tells us that is true. Sooner or later something bad is going to happen to the economy. It is written.

My advice to everyone is, create an emergency fund, enough to last you 6 months to a year. Eliminate as much personnel debt as you can. Hope for the best and prepare for worst.

[RKP5637]

1. History repeats! n/t

[democratisphere]

2. The storm clouds are already moving in.

[CountAllVotes]

3. It is too familiar

My family lost everything they owned, including their home during the Depression. I heard plenty about it my entire life.

After they were all dead and gone, I found several thousand dollars worth of useless stock certificates in my uncle's home. Several thousand? That was lots of bucks in 1929!

Wake the hell up America!

[Wellstone ruled]

5. Very fimiliar Story.

My Grand Mother kept this worthless Stock Certs to make sure her Grand Kids would and could see just how ugly it really was. Memory was,it was only a couple hundred dollars worth,but,it was several months of food and cloths for nine Kids and keeping the Farm from going into Foreclosure.

[CountAllVotes]

9. My great grandfather was a comptroller

He worked for a city we all know. He was their main accountant and had everything in the market, everything!

You couldn't get my Dad to put 2 cents in the DOW! Nope!

Needless to say, I don't lean that way myself to say the least.

Those thousands of $ in 1929 means my old grandfather was very well off. Today, even the house itself is no longer standing; replaced with a grocery store it was!

[Wellstone ruled]

10. What really smack everyone was

the massive Drought that happened during the same time frame. And our Nation was still a Agrarian Nation at the time. And to think,we as a Country will be torn apart if we have that deep of a Depression..

Depending on where you lived in our Country,some areas never returned to some normality until the Late Nineteen Forties. And today those areas are now experiencing early recession do to their failure to stop living in the Past. Those Mining and Forest Jobs are not coming back. And the Dairy Industry is failing to adjust to the realities of over production . Enough of the wailing.

[Blue_true]

12. You know.

When I read the OP, the first thing that came to my mind was that if we have another Great Depression, we are finished as a country, politicians should break the country up into 3 or 4 new countries, similar to what happened with Czechklovokia. We just have way to much division. Adults would get to chose the country they want to live in, minor children would follow the adults, but those already born would have a onetime ticket to move to the country of their choice once they turn 21, or stay in the one their parents took them to. I live in Florida, but I would chose to move to the country that has California, Oregon and Washington state, because the rightwingers living there likely would chose to move to some other country.

[shockey80]

4. I learned long ago, never ignore history.

Knowing history makes you wise. It protects you.

[smirkymonkey]

6. I have no doubt that Trump is setting us up for a serious recession, if not

a depression. He has no idea as to what he is doing and is setting us up for a crash. I don't know if it's too late to turn this sinking ship around already.

[SWBTATTReg]

7. Good advice, Shockey80...

It's amazing how close the two time periods (1920s-30s) mirror each other (2018+-) using the stats you quoted. And scary too.

Your advice on creating an emergency fund is a very good one, for I think next time something happens, w/ the repugs in control, we are not going to see a government bailout and thus, the damage is going to be magnified several fold, by the time someone wakes up and takes charge (rump won't, he's incapable of doing anything that involves any forward thinking).

By the time big banks and others (fed. reserve) step in and act, the overall damage to the economy and the ripple effects will have been done already, and efforts to minimize the damage to the economy will be too little, too late, and rump's efforts to blame everyone else but him will fall on deaf ears.

It's unfortunate, but economic cycles do have a nasty habit of repeating themselves.

One of drivers of the next economic downturn will be caused by consumers pulling back on spending, because (1) income is not increasing as fast; (2) debt is increasing faster and faster (consumers can't keep up); (3) wealth is being super concentrated, and not being spent as fast; (4) dollar will take a big hit (decifit spending by gop);

Scary times ahead...

[shockey80]

8. I am proof you can create an emergency fund.

My wife and I do not make a lot of money. I would say we make about the average amount of income for a family. We had one son, he is now on his own. New York State is expensive. I deal in cash only. I was taught by my mom to envelope budget. Its old fashioned and it works. We eat at home. I have one credit card for emergencies. I bought a new car, my payment is $216 a month.

I own a condo, mortgage is less than $600 a month. When we want to buy something for our home, update our home, we save up for it. We wait, we never put it on credit.

If you do things like we do you can set aside money for an emergency fund. It takes awhile but you can get there. Learn to do without. A lot of the shit all of us buy you do not need.

I also don't own a smart phone. I don't need it. It's an extra bill. I have a computer at home. You will be surprised what you can do without, if you try.

[Blue_true]

11. The years leading up to the Depression were called the Roaring 20s.

Highly robust economy, lots of jobs. Most of it built on crass speculation. Men dreamed of striking it rich buying and selling stocks. The horizon seemed boundless, until it wasn't.

[Xolodno]

13. Well... it is a classical cycle of a capitalist system. Boom and Bust.

Less regulated, the higher the Boom....and Bust.

Even Socialism isn't immune to this. However, the peaks and troughs are less severe. Oh and no, Venezuela is not Socialist. They are far past Socialism and in Communist territory. And no, Communism is not Socialism. Communism is an interesting idea on paper....but sure as hell doesn't work in practice, well, at this stage of our development.

[roamer65]

14. True Communism relies on a distinct level of altruism.

Which we know, when it comes to humans, is exceedingly rare or non-existent.

So you are correct on it not working.

[Xolodno]

15. Correct, there have been examples where it was successful.

But they are on a micro scale, such as farm communes. But even they have mixed results, all it takes is one greedy asshole taking control and the whole thing falls apart.

Aside from that, bee colonies.