Channeling past presidents to understand the future
It's official. We're in a recession and have been there for a year. Many folks make statistical comparisons to the Great Depression; some work, others do not. What may be more relevant than numbers is the first fireside chat President Franklin Roosevelt gave shortly after his inauguration, on March 12, 1933.
Much of Roosevelt's speech sounds familiar - market panic, rapidly dropping stock prices, bank failures, government intervention. Perhaps it is this relevance that made listening to Roosevelt soothing. Or maybe it was his slow diction, old-fashioned accent, and the static-filled airways.
You can listen to the entire 13 minute monologue online or read the transcript, thanks to the Miller Center for Public Affairs at the University of Virginia. The center has recordings and transcripts of many Presidential speeches going back to GW.
Listening to Roosevelt demand calm among Americans won't get us out of the current mess, but it may make you feel better about your own situation. And it's free!
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About The Bargain Hunter
Daily News staff writer Julia Scott loves to find bargains on everything from groceries to Gucci. Her tips will help keep your hard earned cash where it belongs - in your pocket.
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My grandparents — and to some extent my parents (yep, I'm that old) — had their worldviews shaped by the Great Depression, which really didn't end until the U.S. entered WWII. Even with the war transforming the economy, the whole ethos through the mid-'40s was to do without and support the war effort.
And depending on where you're sitting, this either already is — or is fast becoming — our own great depression.
If you're out of work, have lost your home and have no way out, for all intents and purposes this is a depression.
With major banks creaking and failing, industrial giants seeing decades of poor management put them on the brink, and businesses large and small failing in increasing numbers, most of us know that we're in deep trouble.
We're all enjoying $1.89/gallon gas, but nobody thinks it's going to last (or can make up for everything else swirling around the bowl).
"All we have to fear is fear itself," FDR said. You can see it as a cyclical argument, but it's true. Out of desperate times comes opportunity. It might be fun to look for bargains, but living a life centered around frugality can bring additional meaning as well as savings and sustenance.
If the government both demands and supports a new energy economy, and we examine all the assumptions we have about how we as Americans live our lives, out of this mess can arise a better way.
It looks like there could be a lot of pain between now and then.
Bicycles, a return to the Victory Garden concept, backyard chickens, more reusing, less consuming, free entertainment ... what do you suggest?