Does anyone think we are headed for a depression? why?

Question

Does anyone think we are headed for a depression? why?

Answer 1

Actually, technically we are already in a recession, but we are not headed for a depression. The Great Depression was caused by a mixture of issues, mostly debts in countries from WWI that were then compounded by a sudden interest in the stock market. People of ten put all of there money into the stock market. How is that different from today? It was much more popular, and the stock market lacked the regulations it has today. So people could create fake companies that others would unknowingly invest all of their money in. This became quite prevalent until the market was virtually set up on fake companies that all soon crashed. With the stock market crash people panicked at tried to pull all of their money out of the banks until the banks ran out of money and many people lost all the money they had. To compound all of this there was an agricultural crisis with the Dust Bowl.

Now the government insures money in the banks, so you won't loose your money. Also, the stock market is much more closely regulated. There are also several other safeguards in place by the government to prevent another depression. Money may get tight and people may have problems getting by, but things will never be as extreme as they were in the depression, or even close.

Hope this helps!

Answer 2

Do you know what a depression is?

Answer 3

Most likely. High gas prices lead to higher prices on everything else. Then the poor will get poorer and the poverty level will go up and it already is. People who were able to get by will no longer be able to. Bills won't get paid. More and more people will end up on the streets. More and more foreclosures. My parents can barely pay for our house and their house payment just went up and this house isn't even worth that much. There living paycheck to paycheck and my moms even got a decent paying job that we should be able to live off. More people are having to give up there pets because they can't take care of them. The area transit system gets more and more pact each day. Businesses are going out of business. Even Businesses that got alot of costumers and it even says on a note on the door gone out of business due to the economy. More robberies, more people stealing gas. I honestly think that's where this country is headed. The next president better make some BIG changes or were just going to all just get deeper and deeper in the whole. Something has got to happen because people can't keep living like this.  Not to mention people are losing there jobs right and left. Big factories are moving out of the country due to they can't pay there workers the wage they are paying them so they have to find cheaper labor.

Answer 4

that'd be bad.

Answer 5

Nope.

Low unemployment, low interest rates, economy is flat or still slightly growing.

Economies rise and fall. Don't get hysterical.

Answer 6

The country is in a malaise and some say that we are already in a recession...but a depression is not out of the question if after the election the stock market crashes if people lose confidence in the new president

beware of who you elect in office in November 2008

Answer 7

No, according to most, we've been "headed for a depression" for quite some time now. If it was going to happen, I think it would have happened by now. But I could be wrong.

Answer 8

we could be very easily

if obama wins his blueprint for change will be a huge change that will sent our economy down fast

if mccain wins and gets his cap and trade plan to pass that will also crush our economy..just not as hard and fast

...if either of those 2 win were gonna have a pretty bad "change" coming

Answer 9

In my opinion, I think so.  I am in my 70's and although I was born after the Great Depression, I remember my parents talking a lot about it and how hard everyday life was.  I see that kind of hardship in peoples' lives nowadays.

However, I was around for rationing during WWll and remember it well.  A lot of items at that time were in short supply and I think eventually there will be a shortage of oil in America and gas rationing will follow.  Also food prices have gone up because of gas, fires, floods and the corn being used for ethanol.  I can remember my mother standing in long lines at the supermarket to use her ration stamps for butter and other things when the store was expecting a shipment.  If we needed more gas than we had ration stamps for, we would have to buy them on the black market.  Some people had to do this in order to have enough gas to get to work.

My point is this, I think with the loss of so many jobs, the mortgage forclosures, the high cost of gasoline and the stock market falling by leaps and bounds, will put us in a depression.  I also think that no matter who becomes president, our taxes will increase.

A lot of the younger generation are too busy texting and listening to their ipods to even care about what is going on.  I don't even want to get started on that.

I hope we can fix this problem in America--we are too great a country to crash and burn.

Answer 10

GDP growth was very low this last quarter.

a lot of economist are predicting it to be negative this quarter.

two quarters of negative growth signal a recession.

I don't know what signals a depression--but a longer and worse recession.