Journal Stargoat's Journal: Turning the Recession of 2008-9 into the Second Great Depression 4
It requires government interference to turn a recession into a depression. That is to say, a government must interact with an economy, changing the fundamental landscape of that economy in a negative manner to cause a depression. The First Great Depression started because of land speculation. It turned into a depression when the various nation-states of the world enacted tariffs, reducing the complexities of the overall global economy. The Second Great Depression started because of housing speculation. It turned into a depression due to the high cost of education, drastically shrinking the overall adult population of the country capable of borrowing credit.
You missed one small hallmark (Score:2)
It also requires a government of, by, and for international corporations against the people.
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Wait, what? (Score:2)
I'm sure that the things the government has fucked up on can be printed out on a stack of paper that will reach to the moon, but the cost of high-prestige education causing a depression? It's putting the cart before the horse: what good is an education if you're stuck in a house in a dead-end city that nobody will buy, and even if you could sell it, you couldn't get half of what you owe on it? You walk away from it and immediately fail every potential employer's credit check, never mind trying to find a p
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Yeah. Because you enter life $50000 in debt. You already have a mortgage. You can't walk away from it. It's illegal. No bankruptcy is possible. I mean, what's next, debtors' prisons?
This has effectively destroyed a large population of society that should be buying houses, new cars, and the rest of the crap that a complex economy requires. It's as bad as a plague going through, but worse, because those folks still draw on society, still suck resources, and it's still crowded. All to pay for what shou