hi everybody on this thread,
The depression is coming. That there is no doubt. It's just a case of when.
The governments of the world are pumping extraordinary sums of limited public money into the financial system so that the banks can continue lending money, doing the very thing they did that got us into this mess in the first place.
We can see the outsides begining to crumble with unemployment stats worse than expected, Ford laying off 10% of their workforce in the US, drastic fall in sales of cars, one of the principal sources of income of the US government.
Today Circuit City, one of the largest electronics retailers filed under chapter 11, DHL pulled their operations from Ohio, AIG is to get another 150billion dollars of public money
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081110/...ge/aig_bailout as they still haven't managed to sort their problems out, in spite of the 7billion dollar bonuses they will give their execs for Christmas this year.
Over the weekend G20 countries met in São Paulo to discuss possible proposals and conclusions at the G20 meeting to be held in the Washington, I believe this week.
Reading between the lines, the developing countries are begining to understand that they will have an important part to play in the global economic recovery and are starting to bite back.
For years the IMF has been lending money to these countries with a lot of strings attached. Many strings including exploiting these countries for their natural resources.
It could very well occur that the wild wolf is about to get bitten back, as the developed countries have a lot more to lose than their developing counterparts.
As Brazilian economics secretary Mantega said, "First we will see inflation, followed by deflation during 2009".
The already teetering economy of the US which produces very little in terms of national products anyway, I think is going to suffer a pounding.
I don't think any of us really know what the great depression was like in 29, but I think we are going to find out.
Best regards,
Steve
Quote:
Originally Posted by historycircus
A quick note on the unemployment numbers:
Keep in mind that when the stock market crashed in October of 1929, it took years for the effects to manifest as a social low - the winter of 1932-33 was lovingly called the "Winter of Despair." That is when the zeinith of Depression was felt by most of the masses.
As for unemployment, the official census numbers that are used today show a 25-30% national uneployment rate for the winter of 1932-33.
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