The hill in the background may look familiar. I think I-90 now goes to the left of it, and I-5 right to left in front of it. Those are shantytowns in the foreground, or "Hoovervilles", as they were called in the Great Depression. They were named for a president who did the wrong thing when faced with what Obama is facing now. Not that there were many "right" things to do. No one knew what it was when it started, did they? And that's what worries me.
Many government programs are in place now to keep that level of awfulness from happening again, but for better or for worse, this time it's global. One thing that makes me laugh every single time I hear it is that "the government assures us that all the money they are using to bail out AIG and other places will be returned to the American people". Yeah. Like all the other government programs that were invented for some reason or other and are still there? Like the "temporary housing" I lived in at Gonzaga that was one of the most popular dorms and is still there, 40 years later, even though they have built lots and lots of new ones? Right.
Here's the book I picked up at the library which breaks down what happened very simply. My grandparents were young people for most of this, my parents born during WWII. They could have been in this book. I think they were lucky not to have children til the economy was back on its feet, thanks to, of all things, war.
