Thursday, March 5, 2009
I found today's discussion about the Great Depression to be pretty interesting, especially our discussion about the parallelism between the Great Depression and the economy of today's time. A couple of students mentioned in class that people today aren't even letting their family members know about their situations (after losing everything). I wonder if this is due to the shame of being seen as failures or if it's the fact that they do not wish to burden their families. In the past, it seems that they were ashamed because they saw themselves as failures for the inability to provide for their family. It is interesting that America's initial reactions were to blame someone, anyone, for what has happened. People were quick to point their fingers; yet it seems that in the end everyone just blamed themselves for their situation. Was this because they didn't know who to blame? Or did they really believe it was their own faults for their poverty? I think it has to do with a little bit of both. Because there were so many factors that played into the Great Depression, it was hard to pinpoint one specific cause; therefore, people took the burden upon themselves and faulted their own shortcomings. I also think that it is dangerous to fall into this self-blame mindset. In order for a nation to rise out of something like an economic crisis, we must all think and work collectively to make any real changes that can improve something as huge as this.
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I agree with you that it is hard to pinpoint the cause of the great depression since there were so many factors that lead to it. I think people were truly ashamed because they were working so hard and the American dream was still so far out of their reach. Their hopes and dreams were killed with the beginning of the depression and it just was not fair to anyone. It is really scary that we are going through an economic crisis today, and the end doesn't seem in our reach. People who have already lost their jobs are too afraid to tell their families and the economy is just getting worse. All I know is that we are on the verge of a second great depression and who knows what we will see next.
ReplyDeleteI believe people are hesitant to reveal the loss of a job for both reasons. There is an element of shame I suppose, that being said given the environment it is far from unexpected. More so I believe is the feeling of responsibility to one's family, as a provider and protector. Many of the banking jobs lost were very high profile yet high risk. The past years have provided tremendous opportunities for individuals to obtain lives for their families that were previously unimaginable, and it was easy to forget how unstable a career in that industry is. Now we are experiencing difficult times, something that those families may not have been prepared for. As far as the length of this recession, it is all about liquidity and pricing derivative securities, and once consumer confidence is restored through further clarity in the banking system, we will see the turn of the economy.
ReplyDeleteI think that you are right when you say that a self-blame mindset is a dangerous fall for America to take. However I don't think that it can be stopped. I believe that the notion of the American dream and that those who work hard will succeed still plays a large part in the way that American view the obstacles and failures that they encounter. So I think that, as in the Great Depression, the people who are jobless and have not told their families yet are not doing so because they are afraid to be a burden, but because they did not live up to an American ideal that has been ingrained in citizens since birth.
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