Bob McCarty Writes

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Barack Obama is out on the campaign trail stoking fears that another Great Depression, complete with bread lines and high unemployment, is just around the bend.  While the financial crisis is indeed serious, the differences between the economy of the 1930s and today are vast.

BREAD LINES

In a piece earlier this year for the Business and Media Institute, Nathan Burchfiel highlighted statements commentator Andy Rooney made about lines during the Jan. 27 edition of 60 Minutes on CBS:

“Big bakeries gave away their bread when it was three or four days old, and people who were out of work and hungry lined up to get it,” Rooney said. “We don’t have anything like that now.”

Unlike Rooney, who was a teenager during much of the Great Depression, today’s teenagers are far more likely to find themselves in line outside of a Best Buy, Circuit City or Apple Store, hoping to get their hands on the latest iPod or iPhone.

UNEMPLOYMENT

According to the folks at the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum, 24.9 percent of the total work force or 11,385,000 people were unemployed at the height of the Depression in 1933.  Last month, the unemployment rate in the United States was only 6.1 percent, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

HOME OWNERSHIP

According to Fox Business Channel‘s Neal Cavuto this morning, only one in four American families owned their own homes during the height of the Great Depression.  Today, some 65 percent of Americans are homeowners.

CONCLUSION

As you watch the news coverage of the ongoing financial crisis, it might serve you well to adopt the mindset of super-salesman Zig Ziglar mindset.  He said something to this effect:

“The media has accurately predicted ten of the last two recessions.”

In other words, he’s saying those in the news media don’t always get things right — especially during a Republican administration.