What Do Economic Indicators Say?
We’ve repeatedly pointed out that there are many indicators which show that the last 5 years have been worse than the Great Depression of the 1930s, including:
- The housing slump
- The level of inequality between rich and poor (too much inequality destroys economies)
- The interconnectedness of financial systems and economies worldwide (interconnectedness leads to financial instability)
- Runaway spending and greed
Mark McHugh reports:
Velocity of money is the frequency with which a unit of money is spent on new goods and services. It is a far better indicator of economic activity than GDP, consumer prices, the stock market, or sales of men’s underwear (which Greenspan was fond of ogling). In a healthy economy, the same dollar is collected as payment and subsequently spent many times over. In a depression, the velocity of money goes catatonic. Velocity of money is calculated by simply dividing GDP by a given money supply. This VoM chart using monetary base should end any discussion of what ”this” is and whether or not anybody should be using the word “recovery” with a straight face:
In just four short years, our “enlightened” policy-makers have slowed money velocity to depths never seen in the Great Depression.
(As we’ve previously explained, the Fed has intentionally squashed money multipliers and money velocity as a way to battle inflation. And see this)
Indeed, the number of Americans relying on government assistance to obtain basic food may be higher now that during the Great Depression. The only reason we don’t see the “soup lines” like we did in the 30s only because of the massive food stamp program.
And while apologists for government and bank policy point to unemployment as being better than during the 1930s, even that claim is debatable.
What Do Economists Say?
Indeed, many economists agree that this could be worse than the Great Depression, including:
- Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke
- Former Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan (and see this and this)
- Former Fed Chairman Paul Volcker
- Economics scholar and former Federal Reserve Governor Frederic Mishkin
- The head of the Bank of England Mervyn King (and see this)
- Nobel prize winning economist Joseph Stiglitz
- Nobel prize winning economist Paul Krugman
- Former Goldman Sachs chairman John Whitehead
- Economics professors Barry Eichengreen and and Kevin H. O’Rourke (updated here)
- Investment advisor, risk expert and “Black Swan” author Nassim Nicholas Taleb
- Well-known PhD economist Marc Faber
- Morgan Stanley’s UK equity strategist Graham Secker
- Former chief credit officer at Fannie Mae Edward J. Pinto
- Billionaire investor George Soros
- Senior British minister Ed Balls
Bad Policy Has Us Stuck
We are stuck in a depression because the government has done all of the wrong things, and has failed to address the core problems.
For example:
- An economics professor says we’ll have “a never-ending depression unless we repudiate the debt, which never should have been extended in the first place”
- Fraud was one of the main causes of the Depression, but nothing has been done to rein in fraud today. Indeed, the only action the government is taking is to help cover up fraud
- All leading independent economists have said that the economy cannot recover until the big, insolvent banks are broken up, but the government has just helped them to get bigger
- The Federal Reserve caused the Great Depression and the current crisis, and has done nothing but help the fatcats at the expense of the little guy. And yet the government has given the Fed more power than ever.
- Government policies send manufacturing jobs and dollars abroad
Quantitative easing won’t help … it will only make things worse.
This isn’t an issue of left versus right … it’s corruption and bad policies which help the super-elite but are causing a depression for the vast majority of the American people.
The government and the banks are doing all of the wrong things. See this and this.
Have the Last 5 Years Been Worse than the Great Depression? was originally published on Washington’s Blog
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There is another choice in the presidential election: Ron Paul. He is still on the ballot; never dropped out; just ran out of money. He had his convention in Tampa the same time as the RNC. Only media that aired it was C-span. Don’t count him out; he is for the Revolution!
I wasn’t around for the Last Great Oppression. However, these are the worst economic conditions I have ever seen. I don’t blame Bush for this. I blame the current administration. The banks have received countless trillions from the U.S. TAXPAYERS thanks to the current administration who have done nothing to stop this ongoing robbery. Obama is fixing fraud with more fraud. This is worse than what F.D.R. did with his SOCIALIST FIXES FOR FRAUD….Obamas fixes are much more severe and oppressive… Obamas fixes are COMPLETE COMMUNISM…I don’t love Romney, however, he is the ONLY other choice and Obama doesn’t need to be handed another 4 years to finish this country off.
I wonder if Alan would take credit for advocating conditions that have created an economic nightmare. His words are still taken as gospel by the Wall Street Sociopaths. The people who work for a living must be held in fear of job loss. And subsequently the loss of everything else, including the big prize that always has extractive value, their shelter. Consider that the American experience today, is ever closer to a form of open air prison, where the less wealthy are routinely criminalized, and the information technology based financial parasites set the rules and get away with everything, doing “God’s work” as they arrogantly proclaim.
If we are in a Depression, indications are that “our” Government is much more authoritarian and brutal, the media much more obligated to keep bad economic news suppressed. It’s time to wrestle back some Democracy, we can’t have the free-reign of thieves if there is to be any recovery. The predator bandits are still out there, still employed in the financial sector, still responsible and still not held accountable.