wrote in message
...
On Wed, 14 Jul 2010 11:06:12 -0700, "nom=de=plume"
wrote:


wrote in message
. ..
On Wed, 14 Jul 2010 07:54:07 -0700, Jordon
wrote:

War today is too efficient for it to work again.

When did that war start? GNP and unemployment was at its worst
in 1934 and had vastly improved by the time we started gearing
up for the war.

Huh?
That was a classic double dip recession/depression and unemployment
was back up to 17% in 1938.
It was a jobless recovery and there was not much private sector growth
going on. The growth was in government. ... much as we are seeing now.

The private sector is sitting on their cash, waiting to see what the
effect of health care, financial reform, carbon taxes and other
regulation will have on their business before they are willing to hire
people, particularly full time people.
Most of the hiring that is going on is part time or temp jobs, not
"career" jobs. I am not sure companies are even interested in offering
careers these days. They really seem to prefer "contractors" who can
be let go with virtually zero notice and no future obligation. When
was the last time you saw an "employee" installing phones, satellites,
cable or software? They must have been old guys who haven't been laid
off yet.


Unemployment dropped steadily from 1934 to 1937, then came back up a bit
losing about 1/2 the ground it made up. It was partially a jobless
recovery
and partially not.

http://static.seekingalpha.com/uploa...employment.jpg


If you consider a jump from 12% to 17% "a bit" I suppose you are right
but that is a 50% increase. (a couple million more people out of work)

And, if you consider a greater drop in unemployment number (mid-20s to
low-teens)...


We are not in a depression.


It depends on if you are the one out of work doesn't it? ;-)

Yes... definitely right on that... it's a recession when you're neighbor is
out of work; it's a depression when you are.

"Depression" was a word invented to avoid the former term "panic". (as
in "this is just a little depression in the economy")
Once people figured out how bad it was they knew they were screwed but
the word stuck.