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Slip, sliding away
It occured to me while I was teaching a lesson to 8th-grade social studies students in Loudoun County that many of the economic conditions that could be found during the Great Depression are starting to rear their ugly head in 2008.
The students asked if such a depression could happen again and it made me wonder.
Our economy was once booming. Now it is not. Hey, we had the "Roaring '20s" before the depression. Today, we had a booming dot-com and real estate market before what appears to be at least a sustained recession.
When I started reviewing the class notes, I began to make several conparisons between today and yesteryear in my mind. This was not reassuring.
Many people in the 1920s borrowed on margin to buy stocks. A lot of people today are doing the same thing for ever increasing home mortgages and retirements. When people do borrow in order to invest today, they are not getting good returns on items such as IRAs and 401ks.
Americans in the 1930s had to face "Dust Bowl" conditions in the Great Plains. We have had hurricanes and tropical storms ravage the southern states for years. These conditions have caused farmers today to struggle in many of the same way previous generations of food producers did.
Gas at the corner is not any cheaper now either.
Could deep economic problems be far ahead? Perhaps.
What can we do? I'm not really sure. Loudoun County leaders can try to pare down their budget. It will be tough because additional school buildings are needed. State and federal leaders will need to take action as well.
The federal tax rebate will help, along with the annual federal tax return to many families. It is still going to be tough goings though.
I think I will get that second job.
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