Times were tough back then, and still are...

S

Sanaz3

I would recommend those who haven't watched these documentaries on PBS to watch them. These great films show how times were really tough back then with high unemployment, droughts, diseases...

So do you think times have changed for the better or worse since then? Please feel free to share your thoughts.


Riding the Rails:
At the height of the Great Depression, more than 250,000 teenagers were living on the road in America.

http://video.pbs.org/video/1502653730/



Surviving the Dust Bowl:
The story of the determined people who clung to their homes and way of life, enduring drought, dust, disease and even death for nearly a decade.

http://video.pbs.org/video/1311363860/


Influenza 1918
Influenza 1918 is the story of the worst epidemic the United States has ever known. Before it was over, the flu would kill more than 600,000 Americans - more than all the combat deaths of this century combined.

http://video.pbs.org/video/1378322117/
 
1 in 8 Americans are on food stamps. Sounds bad right? Sounds worse when you find out that 1 in 4 children are on food stamps.


http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/...hildren-are-now-living-below-the-poverty-line

The article goes on to say that the rich get richer and the poor get poorer.

The number of millionaires in the US INCREASED by 16%.

The poorest 40% of the nation own less than 1% of the nations wealth.

1 in 3 blacks are also on food stamps.

45.9% of all unemployed people have been out of work longer than 6 months.

Those people had it easy during the great depression.
 
Yes, but was obesity an epidemic during the great depression? Do Americans today have to worry about outbreaks of polio as was the case during the great depression? What would you rather be, black now, or black during the great depression?
 
You are joking right? This is not a greater depression nor a more gilded age.


Quote from peilthetraveler:

1 in 8 Americans are on food stamps. Sounds bad right? Sounds worse when you find out that 1 in 4 children are on food stamps.


http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/...hildren-are-now-living-below-the-poverty-line

The article goes on to say that the rich get richer and the poor get poorer.

The number of millionaires in the US INCREASED by 16%.

The poorest 40% of the nation own less than 1% of the nations wealth.

1 in 3 blacks are also on food stamps.

45.9% of all unemployed people have been out of work longer than 6 months.

Those people had it easy during the great depression.
More...
 
I'm sure there are more than 250,000 teenagers on their own now. They may not be riding the rails, but they're out there.

The Dust Bowl occurred because these folks were farming land that never should have been farmed in the first place (thanks to stupid gubmint policies for that). That land was never meant for that sort of use and decades of intensive farming destroyed the topsoil. When drought and heavy winds came, there was literally nothing left to hold the soil to the ground - it had become little more than dust and just blew away.
 
Quote from ralph00:

I'm sure there are more than 250,000 teenagers on their own now. They may not be riding the rails, but they're out there.

The Dust Bowl occurred because these folks were farming land that never should have been farmed in the first place (thanks to stupid gubmint policies for that). That land was never meant for that sort of use and decades of intensive farming destroyed the topsoil. When drought and heavy winds came, there was literally nothing left to hold the soil to the ground - it had become little more than dust and just blew away.
More...

The final blow to the soil came from a government program that removed trees that blocked the wind...
 
Quote from startraitor:

You are joking right? This is not a greater depression nor a more gilded age.
More...

Food stamps are the same thing as bread lines except no waiting in line now, just a simple application to fill out.

Plenty of teenagers riding the rails. There are train tracks a few miles from me, and every time i drive by, i see 3 or 4 teens, dressed in filthy black jeans & black shirts with chains and spiked hair sitting by the railroad (Its like there is some kind of dress code to adhere to if you ride the rails today)
 
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