http://www.oftwominds.com/journal09/MB-depression3-09.html(a truly brilliant article. It's long but so worth the read. I found the various similarities that the original author points out about events during the depression so eerily similar, it gave me pause to think. I am now looking for the book. Here are some snips.)
As the author explains, the depression, at least at its worst, did not happen overnight and the author was not greatly impacted in the early stages. For instance, in September 1929 between graduating high school and starting college the author attended a military school in Missouri for a year. He notes that between semesters some classmates could not afford to return. His father lost most of his money in the Oct 1929 crash, ended up in debt, had to mortgage the lumberyard and came close to bankruptcy (46). However, the author, away at military school was largely unaware of this. Several of the authors' friends fathers also had lost big in the stock market and many people were worried about slow 1930 model car sales.
snip
But by Labor day (Sept. 1930) the nation started to experience the "real depths" of the depression. The author's father started to get calls from his creditors and customers no longer were paying their accounts. By this time, "
he fat on which people had been living all summer was gone.” It was at this point, as 1931 model car sales ground to a halt, that mass layoffs began in Flint's auto factories (76) Prices dropped (e.g., 8 gallons of gas selling for $1, cigarettes for 10 cents a pack). Prices for the coal sold by his father's lumberyard also dropped but, unfortunately, their costs for purchasing this coal did not. Businesses in Flint not selling necessities- clothing stores, furniture stores - started to close down and were boarded up. His father had to start dismissing employees because he could not afford to pay his bills since his customers could no longer pay theirs. Coal deliveries to the lumberyard had to be paid upfront in cash or the suppliers would take the shipment back. "It was a grim and desperate time,” the author writes.
snip
Still, even in the summer of 1930, the author noted "disquieting undertones" such as stories of people committing suicide, going to jail (e.g., embezzlement), going bankrupt and having stress-related health problems (heart attack, stroke). "The Depression produced all kinds of casualties," the author states (50). One of the authors' neighbors was arrested for embezzlement and his family evicted. Another friend and neighbor's father drank himself to death. People laid off from Flint's auto factories lost houses, suffered breakdowns and strokes and even committed suicide (94).
snip
The author notes that the depression forced people to stay home. "I always think of the early 1930s as the jigsaw-puzzle years," the author comments. "The main means of recreation were listening to the radio and working jigsaws”(83). Gardening became a popular family activity. Families took short car rides for recreation. New board games like Monopoly were introduced and became popular (216). Activities such as dancing also caught on because they were inexpensive ($1 to get in, 5 cents for a coke for the author and his dates). Dates were often "dutch" in the 30s (i.e., both men and women paying). The author notes that "the Depression was a period of great elegance" in fashion, perhaps in response to "the everyday drabness about us" (93).
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