People Say We’re Already in the Middle of Another Great Depression. How Does This Affect Us Now?
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Is everything as unclear as it seems?
We are all feeling the financial pressure that has weighed on our shoulders since the start of the pandemic in 2020. Social isolation, job losses and unemployment, price increases, supply shortages, medical supply gaps, rent increases, inflation, war, thousands of dead and wounded and sick.
With these social and economic changes in recent years, “The Great Depression” is now being read more and more frequently. But what does this designation mean?
We all know that “The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression between 1929 and 1939 that began after a major fall in stock prices in the United States.”
The 4th phase of an economic cycle is called a depression. The cycle:
- begins with an upswing phase (expansion, prosperity),
- proceeds with a boom,
- flattens out with a downturn phase (recession) and
- ends with the low phase (depression).
That means if we are indeed in the final phase, we just have to hold on long enough to get into the new upturn, right? But how long does this last phase last? And do we even manage to endure them?
Every 100 Years a New Cycle?
It is often read that a repeating cycle begins every 100 years.
“Every 100 years we humans experience a pandemic and possibly a global economic crisis at the same time: After 1918, the Spanish flu claimed around 30 million lives and thus almost 2% of the world population. In 1932, the Great Depression left 25% of Americans unemployed. All the more it should be a warning to get the upcoming challenges under control with common sense and solidarity.”
Basically, the regular cycle lasts about 5 or 10 (or rarely up to 50) years. Typically, upturns are long and downturns are short.
However, if the economic upswings are short, the recessions and thus the depressions can be enormously long.
“For example, wars, natural disasters, pandemics, discoveries, inventions and new sources of raw materials…
