A New Depression

[Nathan F]

The recent recession and apparent recovery have had me thinking:

Would another Great Depression on the scale of the 1929-41 Depression be possible with today's worldwide economy? Would the huge markets hamper a depression or edge it on?

[Joe]

Before the Great Depression hit, no one thought that the economy could collapse as bad as it did. Nothing's impossible, though I would call it unlikely. Hopefully the next time a recession hits we won't have another Herbert Hoover to send it into a Depression with massive tariffs and tax hikes.

[TrailerParkJawa]

I think it is certainly possible, but would probably happen for different reasons this time. A lot of regulatory work was put into place to help prevent the Great Depression from happening again.

[lance]

I don't think its possible because nobody is getting loans to buy stock now days.

[Darth Wong]

I don't think its possible because nobody is getting loans to buy stock now days.

Actually, there are people who still do leveraged investing.

[Bertie Wooster]

The recent recession and apparent recovery have had me thinking:

Would another Great Depression on the scale of the 1929-41 Depression be possible with today's worldwide economy? Would the huge markets hamper a depression or edge it on?

Even though there are supposed to be safeguards and regulations that would prevent such a worldwide depression ocurring, the fact that an individual can devalue the currency of a country (this happened to the UK) leads me to believe that this global enconomy is an animal not fully understood by its participants. I think a Great Depression could occurr, but I don't think its likely.

Suppose a full-blown war broke out between China and India. We would have a much better idea of how that would affect global security than how it would affect the global economy.

[BlkbrryTheGreat]

One of the main causes of the first Great Depression was the over-extension of easy credit by the Federal Reserve (and other central banks). Looking at the current interest rates set by the Fed, and other Central banks makes me wonder if we're laying the foundation of other Great Depression right now.

[TrailerParkJawa]

A tremendous amount of currency is just a number on a bank statement, paper currency reserves dont match the amount of money in curculation. Since it is all based on faith, I would assume some event that shakes that faith could trigger a Depression. More likely a long series of events.

[tharkûn]

I doubt that it will come now, remember at least part of the cause of the worldwide depression was the complete obliteration of the German economy in the '20s.

[LadyTevar]

Before the Great Depression hit, no one thought that the economy could collapse as bad as it did. Nothing's impossible, though I would call it unlikely. Hopefully the next time a recession hits we won't have another Herbert Hoover to send it into a Depression with massive tariffs and tax hikes.

No, we just have George Bush and his tax breaks on stock ownership.

[Joe]

Before the Great Depression hit, no one thought that the economy could collapse as bad as it did. Nothing's impossible, though I would call it unlikely. Hopefully the next time a recession hits we won't have another Herbert Hoover to send it into a Depression with massive tariffs and tax hikes.

No, we just have George Bush and his tax breaks on stock ownership.

Those tax breaks were a good idea. Japan was the only country to tax dividends as much as the U.S. before the cuts.