the comparatively low cost of food and clothing now as compared to during the great depression could be the main difference in the eras. meaning everyone might get just as absurdly poor and unemployed, but the starving and freezing of the population won't be nearly as dramatic.

there is no technical definition of depression, but just because we won't see the same degree of blatant human tragedy doesn't mean it wont be as bad or worse as the 30's from a macroeconomic perspective.

This guy isn't even trying. Sure, the crap to gold ratio of new music is skewing worse and worse away from quality, but the fact enough masterpiece records have already been put to tape for one individual to spend their whole life discovering pre-existent material AND the rate of new music output is rising very fast so in raw numbers more good stuff is probably coming out than ever.

People who say all new music is crap are either lazy or defensive about their lack of good taste and intuition.

If you really have a creativity problem with finding good stuff to listen to, i recommend buying a vinyl record player and digging thru some stacks of vinyl at a retail store. That can help one with the perspective necessary to begin becoming a real music snob. Other good tactics are following peculiar (not particular) artists and labels very carefully to see their entire body of work in context.

But whining will get you nowhere.