Learning about the Stock Market Crash of 1929, I was able to see how bad the times really were. People were starving, their were no jobs, the unemployment rate was 38%, and to make it worse it took many years for the economy to bounce back. It wasn't until 1933 did the economy really begin to recover. Thanks to FDR's social programs and the eventual entry into WWII, America was able to get out of the Depression as the world's wealthiest and most powerful nation. Unfortunately, the Depression that was felt in the United States spread to many countries around the world, although I was surprised to discover that France was for the most part unaffected. Learning about the Great Depression also made me think of the recession we are in currently. The entire world is now in a recession with nations around the globe being affected. The United States has proven to be one of the hardest hit countries as well as rebounding the slowest. The dollar has sunk to a low that the Euro is and has been higher for almost a decade. Long ago were the days when the US dollar was the currency to carry with you in Europe. This does not excuse Europe completely from this disaster as the nations of Portugal, Italy, Ireland, Greece, and Spain are reeling especially hard because of the economy in the EU. Greece especially is doing particularly bad now causing the Euro to fall against the US dollar in recent months as well as causing markets in the USA to be hit as well. This I feel does not compare to that of the Great Depression. Today the media makes the economy out to be the oncoming death of all of us. The jobless rate in this country is no where near what it was during the Depression. I feel we must step back and realize we are still far better off than those people in the late twenties and thirties.
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