Depression

Is everyone ready for the next Great Depression? Probably not, because those of us under 55 really didn’t experience the psychological trauma of the Crash of ’29. And those of us over 55 have had years to forget and be reprogrammed by the politicians and advertising media. And nobody studies history anymore, nor have they the foggiest notion why it is in our interest to study the subject. And so, as it has ever been before, shall it be again. Like Halley’s comet, and the minuet of Earth and moon around the sun, it is time again for the Great Depression.

Everyone recognizes that individuals have moods. They have their ups and downs. Well, surprise! So too do people as a group, as a society. In fact, society would be classified by the medical profession as manic-depressive. Historically, the United States has gone through rythmic periods of normal highs and lows, and then mania (an irrational high characterized by delusions of future wealth and fiscal speculation), and then depression. Depression always follows mania. 1767, 1829, 1879, 1929--these are the approximate years of our previous collapses into depression. On average about every 52 years. We’re past due.

Watch the week ending April 18, 1986.

ROBERT V. ACHEN

North Hollywood