Book Review: The Great Depression

I heard a story on NPR two weeks ago about how our current recession resembled the Great Depression. For example, the guest on the show feared we might have a dip in the road to our current economic recovery just like in 1937-38. Dip? What dip, I thought.

Up to this point, my knowledge of the Great Depression centered on my grandmother’s stories of growing up in Chicago, making beer in the bathtub and the gangsters killing each other in the streets. Or the stories of my other grandmother about how precious shoe leather was, the long walks to school in the snow, and “save-a-sole”. I also read most of The Grapes of Wrath; saw pictures of breadlines, heard stories of hobos, hunger riots and stories of farmers burning crops and killing their herds while cities were starving because the price of shipping the food was too expensive, and how FDR’s New Deal delivered America from the Depression – or was it WWII.

So, I set out to educate myself about this critical time in America’s history and went to the library in search of a book that would tell me the causes of the Great Depression and what the government did to get us out of it.

I found 10 books on the Great Depression. Most of them had to do with eyewitness accounts of people who lived through the depression, but I wanted more analysis. Two had to do with new theories about the Great Depression. I didn’t want new theories, I wanted the old ones. The ones people thought about at that time. Just the facts please. Another dealt with the international aspect of the Great Depression. That piqued my interest, but it was long and I first wanted to hear solely about America. Finally, I decided upon The Great Depression by David A. Shannon, 1960. Yes, 1960. What captured my interest was that the book was a collection of engaging newspaper and magazine articles, excerpts from Congressional and Senatorial hearings, portions of studies and reports that included in-depth interviews with all types of people and even a passage from The Grapes of Wrath.

For example, the first article is by The New York Times, October 25,1929 “Worst Stock Crash Stemmed by Banks. The second, “Stock Collapse In 16.410,030-Share Day, But Rally at Close Cheers Brokers.” Needless to say there were no more cheers for many years after that. I was hooked.

The book is broken up into 8 sections: Crash, The Farmer in the Depression, America’s Shame: The Crisis of Relief, Nomads of the Depression, The Middle Classes: Bank Failures and Unemployment, The Depression and Education, Will There Be a Revolution, Some Case Histories.

The ideas explored, the analysis and the personal stories I found extremely engaging. My favorite sections were Crash, The Crisis of Relief, and Will There Be a Revolution.

Below are some quotes/ scenarios that I particularly enjoyed:

“The capitalists are responsible for the present recession (37-38), just as they were responsible for the 1930 depression. Big business tried to run the country but made a mess of it; President Roosevelt tries to straighten out the mess and they are bucking him…the depression will continue until the industrialists are pulled into line.” Mr. Renick interview for the The Dubuque Study.

From George Soule, “Are We Going To Have a Revolution?” Harper’s CLXV (August 1932) –
“Most of those who really suffer from the depression are, according to the best-informed reports, simply stricken dumb by it. Like the Republican administration, they are awaiting nothing more drastic than the return of prosperity.”

George Soule, “Are We Going To Have a Revolution?” Harper’s CLXV (August 1932) – What if “all businesses shut down, all railroads stopped running, all banks are closed. All stocks and bonds, all deeds to real estate become worthless. Everybody is unemployed, nobody has a cent of income. What would happen?” If they are still imbued with habits of trading, of individualistic competition, of accumulation, they would immediately start to rebuild capitalism…”

Shannon collected articles from the point of view of those who were solid middle class to poorest of the poor. I would have liked to have read at least a couple of articles from a captain of industry or extremely wealthy individual to hear their take and perspective on the Depression. That’s my only knock on the book.

So are there similarities between the Great Depression and our current recession?

After reading The Great Depression, I’d agree—in part. Speculators (including banks) took stocks to unreasonable levels and then the bottom dropped out. Fortunately, American government and society has changed much since the 30’s. We now have a relief system, unemployment, social security, medical care for the poor and the federal government now has been providing relief to states early on in this crisis – unlike during the 30’s when relief was entirely left up to local communities and states that were bankrupt. But check this out, between 1929 and mid 1931, the federal government had poured money into the financial system to stabilize it, while letting the average American languish. The first real aid by the federal government didn’t arrive to the states until fall of 1931 and FDR’s policies didn’t start until after he was in office in 1932. It was at this point, from what I read, that there seemed to be a turn around in people's minds, the talk of revolution died down, people sensed a floor to the Depression. It sounds eerily reminiscent of our current situation where the government quickly bailed out the banks, left homeowners to languish and has only now started sending additional relief to states and lengthening unemployment benefits.

Good book.

A Revolt Over Healthcare?

I really don't get some of these whacked out comments opponents of health care reform are spewing. I’m not advocating that the White House’s healthcare plan is a good one, I'm only saying here that SOME of the opponents to the plan are really scary.

“One day God will stand before you and judge you!" one man shouted at Senator Specter at a town hall meeting today. (CNN)

What does God have anything to do with passing a healthcare reform bill? Videos on You Tube, posted messages on AOL and discussions on talk radio all have someone blabbing about how God will send someone to hell for passing a law?

I can understand rational concerns and arguments with costs, whose covered, what’s covered, whose gonna pay for it and what specific plan the White House is putting forth, but threatening a politician with eternal damnation for passing a bill….come on, really?

A woman to Senator Fieser, "If they don't let us vent our frustrations out, they will have a revolution." (CNN)

A revolution over healthcare? What about a revolution against the capitalist system that is feeding billions of taxpayer dollars to the financial giants while the unemployment rate soars, wages drops and extravagant executive bonuses continue? Not that I’m advocating a revolution, but saying the American people will rise up and overthrow the government because we want to keep our current healthcare system is incredible. Her employer must pay for her healthcare or she’s on welfare and receives free medical treatment.

Before Obama got elected, one of the major concerns of Americans was healthcare costs and insurance companies denying people the care they required and people were clamoring for healthcare reform. Even a libertarian I knew wanted government to take on the healthcare burden in order to free up American businesses from the overwhelming cost of providing healthcare to their employees so they could be more competitive in the global market where foreign competitors don't have to worry about these costs.

One of the arguments I’m hearing is that government run healthcare will trample our constitutional rights. I'm not sure which constitutional rights the goverment would be trampling by providing healthcare to its citizens, but I didn’t hear this kind of venom from these sudden constitutional advocates when the Department of Homeland Security was created, secret detention camps and warrantless wire tapping were exposed, or laws were passed allowing the detention of suspects without trial.

And what about Medicare or Social Security? I’ve heard no one say these are horribly run programs that trample our constitutional rights and should be scrapped. I think if we did, the senior citizens of America would revolt.

Didn’t I just say having a revolt over healthcare is ludicrous; maybe it’s not so farfetched after all.

A final note, if insurance companies are dumping hundreds of millions of dollars to defeat this healthcare proposal, doesn't it stand to reason that the insurance companies stand to make exponentially more if it fails and that can only mean bad things for consumers, right?

Here is an interesting video by Keith Olbermann (the last two minutes are great):

Halo Cartoons

My initial reaction to hearing that Bungie and Microsoft were working on seven short Halo films was one of excitement. When I read that the movies were to be animated, I wondered what they meant. I wondered if all the realistic aliens, battles and vehicles in the video game clips done with digital animation are what they considered animated. When I opened the L.A. Times to continue reading the Halo Legends article. I was surprised to see a still of a bunch of cartoon characters. That couldn’t be right, I thought. So I logged into YouTube and quickly found this clip.



You have got to be friggin’ kidding me. Bungie goes from amazing trailers and in-game videos using cutting edge digital animation to make Halo seem life like, then they turn around and come up with the idea to make their first movies - cartoons. Talk about a letdown. I was hoping for the awesome digital animation graphics along the lines of Final Fantasy – the Spirits Within. Instead I see something along the lines of Dragon Ball and Avatar. I’m not knocking those two cartoon series, but it’s definitely a step down in graphics compared to the Halo game. Perhaps Microsoft and Bungie thought if Star Wars could go animated with the Clone Wars, they could do the same with Halo. They should recheck the demographic numbers on that movie. Most adults I know who liked or even loved Star Wars did not watch Clone Wars.

I feel most people equate cartoons with kids. Yes, Bungie is touting this as “anime”, to make it seem all grown up, but I doubt most audiences today, unless they are anime fans, would get a thrill out of seeing a cartoon. Kids would probably like it, but Halo games are rated M for mature so I’m sure most of Halo’s players are not preteens – of course I could be wrong about this.

But if I’m not wrong, Bungie is about to drop – or has already dropped a load of
money on a failed venture.

Then again, maybe they're making the movies animated to attract kids who are too young to play Halo and get them excited about it – cultivating them as you will.

In any event, I am supremely disappointed.

The Great New Light Bulbs of The 21st Century, or Are They?

Over the past year or so, I’ve seen amazing new light bulbs on the market – N:VISION bulbs. Its 60 watt equivalent bulb claims to only use 14 watts of energy to produce the same light as a 60 watt bulb, it’s guaranteed to last nine years (or 10,000 hours), and it has a light output of 900 lumens. The GE reveal 60 watt bulb in comparison has a light output of 630 lumens, only lasts 1,000 hours and burns a full 60 watts of energy.

I was stunned by the enormous advantage the N:VISION bulbs had over the GE bulbs. I was amazed GE was even in the business of making light bulbs any longer. I mean really, even though the N:VISION bulbs cost three times the price of a GE reveal – you get 10 times the life of a regular bulb and cheaper energy bills.

So what’s the problem, you ask. Well, I wanted to see what made this new technological marvel work and why it wasn’t plastered all over the news as a great breakthrough in technology and energy savings.

Well, written in big print on the back of the N:VISION package was the following message:

"Contains Mercury. Dispose according to Local, State or Federal Laws."

I almost dropped the package right there. And imagine if I did - hazmat would have to be called in to clean up.

Here is an entry from Wikipedia in regards to fluorescent lamps:

"When broken indoors, bulbs may emit sufficient mercury vapor to present health concerns, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency recommends evacuating and airing out a room for at least 15 minutes after breaking a fluorescent light bulb."

I don’t know if N:VISION’s bulbs would be considered fluorescent, but the warning about bulbs containing mercury is scary enough for me.

I mean really, something is being openly made with mercury—today. After the three-eyed fish die offs in the 70’s due to mercury poisoning. Or the fear of every parent who puts their child to bed after receiving their two year inoculations, which contain thiomersal (mercury), hoping or praying that their child wakes up the next morning normal and healthy and not autistic.

John, you're being overly paranoid, you say. There's mercury all around us: in the computers, shots, gold, high fructose corn syrup and so on.

Too true. But let me ask this, nine years after the bulb burns out, who will have retained the disposal information number, let alone the N:VISION package with proper disposal instructions? Even if half the people who buy the bulbs dispose of them properly, how many mini-mercury bombs are going to wind up in the garbage? Hundreds? Thousands? Tens of thousands?

As you can see from the picture above, I’m already using two of the poisonous bulbs. I know, call me a hypocrite. My lame excuse: my wife bought this package and started using the bulbs. I only noticed the problem when I went out to buy a bulb for my desk lamp and started comparing bulbs. Now, I’m waiting for the next hazmat round up in my community so I can toss them. Yes, hazmat and community hazardous waste round-ups are the only way to properly dispose of these bulbs.

Hopefully, the next great energy saving idea of the 21st Century won't be as hazardous to our health.