Just now, on the "Breaking News" is a line of cars miles long somewhere in Texas. People lined up for food. No job and now no food in the continuing pandemic reality we've inherited. All this while in other parts of the country crops are being plowed under and milk is poured in ditches to raise farmer's prices.
85 years ago, we saw the same thing. In the Great Depression, people formed bread lines and instructed the soup ladelers to "dip deep, goddammit." The soup was so thin that only a deep dip would retrieve a chunk of potato or an errant piece of carrot. We've been here before as a nation.
Just as the trauma of a national depression left permanent scars, so too will this coronavirus pandemic. In preparing for a "new normal" we would do well to remind ourselves about the lessons of the Great Depression.
In his remarkable oral history of the Depression, Studs Terkel interviewed many folks from all walks of life. Some of the stories they tell resonate loudly today. People don't soon forget the feeling in their gut that accompanies hunger when they realize that potato crops have been burned or that the milk that would nourish their babies lies spoiling in the dirt. Econ. 101...supply and demand.
There was an upside too. A few folks did very well during those hard times. Terkel met a man who realized that people could no longer afford to buy birthday or anniversary gifts, but would spend a little more for a greeting card. He designed and successfully sold a line of cards that was very lucrative in a downtime. Similarly, one guy figured out how to sell a complete chicken dinner cheaply. Demand soared. He made money. On one occasion, a man pawned his radio in order to get one of those dinners for his family. There may be similar stories today, but I fee we are more inclined to scam on another these days.
So yes, this sort of "Hard Times" is certainly not new. Jokes abound. One currently going around, says your great grandparents sacrificed and went to war against a common enemy. They united to defeat racism, and you are being asked to sit on the couch and stay home. Buck up!
85 years ago, we saw the same thing. In the Great Depression, people formed bread lines and instructed the soup ladelers to "dip deep, goddammit." The soup was so thin that only a deep dip would retrieve a chunk of potato or an errant piece of carrot. We've been here before as a nation.
Just as the trauma of a national depression left permanent scars, so too will this coronavirus pandemic. In preparing for a "new normal" we would do well to remind ourselves about the lessons of the Great Depression.
In his remarkable oral history of the Depression, Studs Terkel interviewed many folks from all walks of life. Some of the stories they tell resonate loudly today. People don't soon forget the feeling in their gut that accompanies hunger when they realize that potato crops have been burned or that the milk that would nourish their babies lies spoiling in the dirt. Econ. 101...supply and demand.
There was an upside too. A few folks did very well during those hard times. Terkel met a man who realized that people could no longer afford to buy birthday or anniversary gifts, but would spend a little more for a greeting card. He designed and successfully sold a line of cards that was very lucrative in a downtime. Similarly, one guy figured out how to sell a complete chicken dinner cheaply. Demand soared. He made money. On one occasion, a man pawned his radio in order to get one of those dinners for his family. There may be similar stories today, but I fee we are more inclined to scam on another these days.
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