Monday, September 29, 2008

Just like the depression

LAT columnist Al Martinez writes today that it feels just like the Great Depression, during which he claims to have grown up. In the course of his diatribe, he takes a few shots at President Bush, calling him "pasty-faced and uncertain," which may reveal more about Martinez than Bush.

During the depression of the 1930s, a quarter of the workforce was unemployed. Today, 6 percent are nationwide, 7 percent in California. Breadlines were everywhere then, but there are few if any now. Prices then were falling, now they're increasing at 5 percent per year. The economy shrank during the depression, now it's growing, at 3 percent last quarter.

Anyone who says today is like the depression of the 1930s either didn't live then or has forgotten what it was like.

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