Economic gurus have been predicting an economic collapse for years, especially since the Great Recession of 2008/2009.
They don’t necessarily agree on how soon it is coming or just what will be the trigger to set it off; but more and more of them are getting on the bandwagon, striking the same drumbeat.
By and large, the forecasts of these economic experts make it appear that the coming financial collapse will far outpace the problems of the depression that started in 1929. But is it possible that they’re ignoring the silent depression that is already happening today?
By definition, an economic depression is a “steep and sustained drop in economic activity featuring high unemployment and negative GDP growth.”
Based on that, the only thing that kept the COVID-19 pandemic from being considered an economic depression is that the drop in our GDP didn’t last long enough to technically qualify.
So, the economists only call it a recession, at least those who recognize what COVID did to the economy do. There are others who don’t.
But these terms, depression and recession deal with the “macro-economy,” what’s happening to the economy as a whole, either nationally or even globally. Yet that can often ignore the realities of the economy, as they relate to real people trying to live out their lives.
That causes both economists and the public at large to see “the economy” as referencing what they refer to as “corporate greed” and “the rich getting richer.” But in reality, the economy is more about people having jobs and being able to afford the goods and services they need.
Roughly 25% of the US population lost their jobs during the Great Depression, making it so that they couldn’t afford the goods and services they needed.
That affected the personal economy of others, in a snowball effect, until all but the very richest were affected. Everyone lost something and some lost all.
The question we have to ask ourselves is if it is possible for there to be another depression, without the signs that the economists look for. If the end result of any depression is people losing their ability to buy goods and services, then we are going through a depression right now.
Related: Money Saving Tips From Real Survivors Of The Great Depression
Rather than following the model of the Great Depression of the past, this Silent Depression is being ignored by politicians and publicans, while the common family has to find a way to deal with it.
All it takes is a quick look at a few common costs, some of the ones that everyone deals with, for us to see the truth of this Silent Depression.
Specifically, we need to compare what those things cost during the time of the Great Depression, to what they cost today, not only in hard numbers, but as a percentage of the average family’s income.
Housing
Let’s start with housing costs, as that is one of the average family’s monthly costs. If you had bought a house back in 1930, the average cost would have been $3,900. Today, the average cost of a house is $410,200. (Source)
Renting, for those who couldn’t afford to buy a house, was $18 per month in 1930, which worked out to $216 per year. Today, the average rent is $2,000 per month or $24,000 per year. Keep in mind that the rent in our major cities is considerably higher than this, affecting a large portion of the population.
Money can be saved by renting an apartment, rather than a home, accepting a smaller living space. Even then, the average apartment rent for a two-bedroom apartment is $1,588 per month. (Source)
Transportation
Probably the second biggest family purchase is a vehicle. Back in 1930, the average cost of purchasing a car was $600, compared to today’s average of $47,000. (Source)
Considering the push to switch over to EVs, we will soon be able to add another $10,000 to that figure.
That means that cars have gone up roughly 78 times in price since 1930.
Gasoline has actually done better, considering that the average cost of gasoline was 10 cents per gallon in 1930 and it has been hovering between $3.30 and $4.00, depending on the part of the country you live in.
That’s still at least 33 times what you would have spent back in 1930 and you probably wouldn’t have driven as far.
What’s Happened to Salaries in This Time?
These figures give us a pretty good idea of what inflation has done to prices through the years that have passed since the Great Depression.
But for them to mean anything to us today, we need to be able to compare them to the average household income in 1930, compared to today.
Back in 1930, the average household income was $1,368, with an unemployment rate of 18.26 percent. Today, the average household income is $59,429. (Source) That’s an increase of 4,344 percent.
Looking at the cost of those few basic items I’ve listed above, we find the following, looking at them as a percentage of the average household income:
| 1930 | 2023 | |
| Buying a house | 3 times annual income | 7 times annual income |
| Renting a house (yearly) | 16% of annual income | 40% of annual income |
| Buying a car | 40% of annual income | 79% of annual income |
Granted, most of us don’t buy homes or new cars, paying cash for them, we buy them on time, making payments for years. Nonetheless, the more we spend on housing and buying cars, the less we have available to buy other things.
But There’s More
In addition to what inflation has done to us, the cost of living has increased in many other ways. Many of our modern conveniences, which use electricity, didn’t exist.
Refrigerators became common in homes, but air conditioning only gained widespread use in the 1940s.
For those of us who live in the southern part of the country, paying to cool our homes is much more expensive than paying to heat them.
Related: How To Cool Your Home When The Power Goes Out
The rotary dial home telephone first became common in homes in the 1930s; but the cost of those phones and the cost of phone service was nothing compared to the cost of our smartphones today.
Televisions were just starting to come out and weren’t in homes yet. In 1947, only a few thousand privately owned televisions were in existence. Without televisions, there was no need to pay for streaming service; for that matter, there were no streaming services or satellite TV to pay for.
We could go on and on with things that are commonplace today, but did not exist back then. The idea of paying seven dollars for a cup of coffee didn’t exist. Coffee was coffee, not some designer drink. Buying an ice cream meant getting a cone, not a custom-made creation at Cold Stone or Marble Slab.
As living became more expensive, more and more women entered the workforce, full time, rather than staying at home. This brought added costs, such as needing a second car, a “work” wardrobe for her, and child care for the children.
Food costs will go up, as the family will be eating prepared food or eating out more often. Then there’s the increase in taxes that has to be paid. With all the additional costs added together, the actual increase in available income is less than ¼ that second salary.
While this may not seem to be part of the Silent Depression, it is. While we are all spending more, we are not spending it on things that we want to. Rather than improving our life, we’re mostly just trying to maintain it.
Your Only Solution
We must realize that the government isn’t going to do anything to solve this Silent Depression. Any action to do so would require that they admit there’s a problem and there’s no way they’re going to do that.
Related: 4 Things The Government Doesn’t Want Preppers To Know
Not only that, but as we’ve all seen for more than half a century, the government’s solution is handing out money to the poor. That just makes more and more people dependent on the government, which is busy taking money from those who have it and giving it to those who don’t.
If you think that means taking it from the rich to give to the poor, think again. Every time they talk about taking money from the “one percenters” they also take it from the middle class.
There are only solutions you and I have available to us. The first is to become so wealthy, that we whatever happens to the economy won’t affect us. I can’t help you with that, as I have no idea how to accomplish it. That leaves us with the second option, which is to focus on becoming as self-sufficient as possible.
In today’s world, self-sufficiency is an invaluable skill, as history has shown us during the Great Depression. People who could provide for themselves, like small-time farmers and homesteaders, were more resilient during challenging times.
The Self-Sufficient Backyard serves as a valuable resource for those who want to be as self-reliant as those people. It offers practical advice and knowledge to help you become independent in crucial areas like food, water, and heating.
This is how you can gradually reduce your reliance on traditional currency. During the Great Depression, it was those who needed to buy everything, like we do today, who suffered.
The other big thing that helped people get through that depression was not being in debt. When banks are struggling (and they were definitely struggling back then), one way they make up for it is to call in their loans.
When we can’t pay those loans back, they take our homes, our cars, and whatever else we used to secure the loan. So, we need to get out of debt, as part of our strategy to becoming self-sufficient. If we have to have debt, let’s make sure that it is for things that we can afford to lose, not for things we have to have.
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One thing different about today and yesterday
War , then recession , then great depression ( only certain parts of country experienced this )
no credit , no foney money and there was not much to go around , and not so many people as the war had deleted the population
Today
massive Debt , Massive purchas’s on fony money ( credit ) not real value , fake currency
no value in the money , just using credit and hype, the belief that it is good
no war, lots more people , massive unstable people who dont believe in God, Ten commandments and the cost for actions, crime , punishment for crime
just lot s of deception
We are already in a massive slide into depression , what is next is world war
mankind with no God , Own Selfish belief system of made up values , everything according to self , own wants , and The right makes right mentality
Time to stand on Truth , Speak of Truth, Say what is Truth , NOT cave to social acceptance media and live by the ten commandment s
pay for what you get , earn what you get , work for what you get , save for rainy days from what you worked for
pay off debt , dont purchase what you cannot afford
and confess sin , and speak to God for Repentance and Forgiveness
God is Just , and Holy , and forgiving , and loving , waiting for those who would worship Him
not idols, fake gods, false religeons , man made churchs
The Bible says we can every seven years unload our debt to be free.
The same thing can happen with the American debt crisis. The American Taxpayer never wanted in the first place. The evil political machine of greed did not represent voters in borrowing a majority of debt from China. Those bureaucrats took it upon them selves to indebted the American citizens to be slaves to the holder of the debt today.
The Open Southern Border is a major way to bankrupt the American public, destroy our beloved country with illegals.
The public never cared about California, Texas and other border States, because that was happening only there, decades ago. These States asked for help. People laughed, they are crazy.
Now with Biden’s open border now every State is a border State, share the wealth. Some of you here did vote unknowingly for the present mess.
Now we must take actions to reverse this nonsense. No matter how much you pray to God and read the Bible. God gave us FREEWILL to live a clean life or make a mess of it. So too our never realizing that comes with accountability.
We can blame others for current events, we too have played a part in the current mess we are in. As said before not every prepper is a Christian or conservative. That would be very closed minded.
God is still in charge now and forever, just what do we think we can do to save America?
You religious types and the organized religion church groups are responsible for the open border mess.
The border angels group has given comfort and aid to the illegal laws breakers who say they are persecuted by their governments. In reality these people are economic disadvantage in their countries. They are the ones flooding America for the taxpayers to give them financial security their governments won’t do.
Religion and politics the two worst dividers of nations for centuries. America’s economy is becoming unstable.
Too much reading the Bible verses and no action to protect America, makes Jack a dull boy.
Too Much Liars networks and leftist lies , believing in the idiology of Good people and and not God, Socialist , communist , liars that lie, cheat , steal and believe there is no consequence , so there cant be a God , Well consequence always come s later and with a price and unto the 4th generation , usually your children have to pay the greatest cost for your sin and hatred for God
There is alway s a price for action , and that will be paid for
Perhaps a little more doing, and a little less reading is needed.
That’s a ridiculous assertion. The democrats are to blame for the border mess, and they are by and large, anti-religion. Some politicians fake it, and they are easy to spot.
Religion can be used for fear mongering purposes taken out of context. Cherry picking does not give you wisdom, only partial knowledge of the whole story.
Snake oil evangelism has been intertwining with God’s truth in our country.
We have and still do religious cultist thinking they are the annotated of GOD.
Some have gone down the rabbit hole of unknown consequences, trying to drag us into their hopelessness.
God said buyer beware of false prophets that we have here on this blog.
Keep your religion beliefs to yourself, you are not always correct in thought.
There have been religious figures that have taken advantage of the low information public. To name least one is Jim Jones cult whose followers in the end drank the koolaid of faith.
What about the Heavens Gate cult, brainwashing. It has worked recently with the Dr Fauci Covid lockdowns. Many listened to the false prophets of their god the government.
Yes your text us mentions of verses but which version and interpretation of the Bible do you use?
There are many minions of satan spreading false knowledge among us.
Be careful what you preach, God is watching you!
If you read, study for yourself , teach , search out , look for truth and No matter what accept only truth , you will find it. as the bible says , if your intent is to see clearly , you will
but if not , dont worry , yu will always find what your really looking for , cult or truth
many , many fake, false , counterfit religeons , ways of life, ways to heaven , ways to keep you from truth
So the company you keep trains you in the way of life you accept , and want
no matter what ( so as a man or woman thinks , so they live or not )
Grace is Free, Wisdom is searched out , only if you want it
The Stupid think that everything is free and given , not earned
This is a republic, a representative government, not a democracy as liberals call it.
There has an is a parasitic progressive movement in both parties that were made by progressives. The way politics should work is we vote that person into office regardless of the political party mindset. Because voting straight party line may have worked back the 20th century. That is a no go in today’s political mess. To be fair both parties are good an bad, pros and cons of extremes.
We are repeating history again, The Great Depression, The oil embargo of Jimmy Carter days. Climate Change is another hold over from fanatical groups of the past. We are seeing a Readers Digest Condensed versions from the Biden Administration of Globalism. Where we own nothing, the elites own everything behind their armed gated walled communities.
The modern division ramped up with the Obama/Biden administration division of the American citizens of Skin color gender identity politics.
Good references are Biden’s political pick of a Marxist Black female to the Supreme Court. Recently CA gov Newscam who appointed a non qualified extremist Black Female to replace the recent dead Senator Dianne Feinstein.
When skin color identity politics happens we get a lesser form of the government the founding fathers of America intended.
The American taxpayer voters shall have the Constitutional rights to oversee these appointments then a corrupt politicians appointing unqualified people to an important elected office. Yes an elected office by the legal American voters.
What the CA gov Newscum is somewhat legal but took the voters say so away for better qualified candidates.
Time to get rid of the States Sanctuary status, mostly in Blue liberal States.
Send the California homeless back to their original home State. Purge the country of these illegals who have broken America’s sovereignty laws of immigrant. Have of our taxes are going to house, cloth, school these Biden illegals first than the homeless and vets on the streets.
The New York legal is fraud upon fraud, Delaware getting Hunter off his illegal gun purchase using drugs and throwing the gun away. The Secret Service covered up the crime. Hunter will get off scot-free.
So sleepy China Joe can implement horrendous gun control measures on law abiding Americans. Hunter needs prison time as the rest of us would be in prison for what he did.
Latinos drive the American culture to their culture with the illegal explosion of mass law breaking to bypass the immigration laws.
What happened to integrating in America, than try to keep the crap you left from? Then stay in your original home country and fix it, then fix our America.
Come to America the right way through legal citizenship, then crossing the open Southern border.
America, Borders, Language and Culture. America use to be a melting pot of people coming to America to better themselves. Now it is coming to America to better themselves by living off the American taxpayers being bleed to death by taxes. That support the illegals first, Americans last, especially the homeless American Veteran. Some vets are being thrown out of hotels for illegals to get free welfare. Politics and activist groups has killed the American Dream for the American legal citizens of the USA.
You and I can’t overspend our income but the radical American government can overspend. Overtax us to having us become homeless. They give illegals a handout of our tax money. You progressives don’t think we have a spending problem? Kiss my grits!
The Oct 4th electronic test of all communications is to get America ready for the coming World War 3. That the Biden administration wants to prop up America’s dismal bankruptcy of Bidenomics tax and spend.
American people don’t want to have a nuclear war because of a dementia patient president.
We want peace of well being not chaos of funding Ukraine that is not a NATO club nation. Ukraine is a corrupt nation otherwise Biden would not be laundering our American taxed money for badly needed to repair our economy here.
Why should just one jackwagon ruin our once prosperous economy with Executive Orders and the do nothing congress fails to stop funds.
We can still fix America now instead of waiting for the 2024 elections to fix Miss Liberty.
Lol you can fix it by voting kol…….man the level of delusion is strong
Dont forget Hawaii
opray just got richer, and 900 acres of low cost wealth
just think
NO Conscience , No remorse , no thought for the victims of her actions
Just lots of money , deciet , and wealth
The Truth is : The love of Money is the Root of Evil
Drive s many to thier dooom
OMG, comments sound like the 3rd grade when the teacher leaves the room for 2 minutes.
The Jubilee Year in the Bible sounds great, wondering if American Express really forgave people their debt back then. Think it was about 20 years ago when the Fed gave the okay for credit card debt to be considered part of GNP. Betting a country never counted 1Trillion gold Simoleons of consumer debt as income before.
A pampas educator musing of the comments put forth.
What obnoxious solutions do you render upon us to heal America?
The biggest mistakes made in the American money system was creating the Federal Reserve Bank. Then taking the United States dollar off the gold standard.
The government now wants total control of our private finances using the digital currency system.
America does not want to be controlled. It is in our American DNA to seek out freedom from tyrants of all sorts, religious or politics.
America is founded on God given principles, many are not taught in schools anymore. Of these principles of truth, courage to defend America.
You understand that 7 years of avoiding the debtor is legally a free and clear
Same as today Giving lots of credit to all they can so when collapse comes they will own nothing
and be pennyless , in the street , homeless , with out , and begging from the elites who will own it all
the top 1% do the research see how filthy rich they really are and what they do with it
better to have no education and see clearly and reverance God , Respect others , Respect God , Worship God , than to have everything and die in the somber lonelyness of wealth
Regret , Pain , Suffering , that s what come s in the end
Temp pleasure for eternal pain
Backyard provides so much that I need to make it through. I am debt free and living on Social Security. My emergency fund is depleted, but I am not without. Today I harvested my potatoes and was shocked to find only 18 Yukon Gold and only 3 Red potatoes out of 20 plantings. The foliage was perfect, but I thought to myself “in hard times, where would I find seed potatoes to plant “. Indeed I have ammo boxes of other varied seeds, but potatoes? And although I have several chains and bars for my chainsaw, after 4 years of SHTF, where would I find gasoline? The riddles elude wisdom, but God knows. Prepping is never complete. Please pass the potatoes.
Past posters have said that preps are not long term. Our supplies will need some type of replenishing those used up items. Clothing will not last long term.FEMA is not a hand up, it is a handout with strings attached.
Even with some gold and silver squired away supplies will be in hard to find areas of our local regions.
We are Americans of ingenuity in stressful times.
The Demoncrats have done internment camps of the Japanese of wide proportions than done on individuals. What is to stop this Bidenomics government from doing the same to us in the near future?
Doug,
self sufficiency is the key as much can be achieved. no one can be truly self sufficient but a large garden, a way to store it long term and some animals if possible. yea it’s a tall order for most. chickens are great, not much trouble but they are just not a long term thing. i have kept em for 30 yrs and i can tell you that it’s just not a long term food source.
if i were only to keep one animal for a long term food source it would be hog’s. if you have a very strong pen, a source of water and a way to feed them. one boar and one good sow will have 2 litters of 6+ every year, within 8 months those piglets will grow into 100 pounders-that’s a lot of meat. and yes, they are a lot of trouble to keep.
think of the barter value of just one.
1) Download Cash App. Link it to your bank account and buy $100 of bitcoin. ONLY bitcoin. 2) download Muun Wallet or Wallet of Satoshi and take custody of your bitcoin. Be prepared to Hold for 5 years. 3) start learning about why bitcoin is succeeding, going mainstream and scaring the establishment. They’ve tried every psyop possible to shut it down. (You Tube Michael Saylor, Preston, Pysh, as starting points.) If it goes to zero, you will be fine. But if it does what a lot of very smart people think it’s going to do, it could be your lifeline.
Bitcoin is a shame, run online when the grid goes down does our bitcoin account get erased electronically?
The digital currencies are made up electronic cash can be manipulated.
None of these are backed by gold and sliver, the exception of the BRICKS currency.
The solution of the US paper dollar is to bring back the gold standard to the US dollar. Regardless of Bidenomics bankrupting our economy.
A direct conflict with Russia or China would disrupt the entire worlds economies. Covid disrupted the supply chains for several years and we still haven’t recovered completely. I try to collect antique hand operated tools and equipment. All the other prepping tools and equipment/items are in my inventory but there is always something else that’s needed. I’m old so I worry about me my families health and the availability of pharmaceuticals. Oh well. If WWIII goes nuclear it’s all for naught anyway.
The stupid idiot in the White House funding a non-NATO country, oil and money laundering is getting America into World War 3.
The whole Ukrainian war is on European soil, how much funding are the EU countries helping out? Why do we do the heavy lifting?
Biden is draining America dry of weapons and finances that are not for America first.
MAGA!
gas in the early 70’s was .50 cents, but we didn’t have .50 cents. and min wage was 1.75 an hr from what i remember. it’s all about what you make and what you spend. perspective.
a loaf of bread in the 30″s was a dime
Gas in 1972 was 22cents a gallon.I remember filling up my half gallon minibike gas tank for a dime and some times it only took 9 cents and I got a piece of gum with the penny.change I got back.
Just because items and behaviors have become common doesn’t mean folks have to partake. Much is still about choices.
With the way things are going there will not be a middle class. You will only have the rich and the poor. The middle class right now are just making it. Much more of this free money crap that is going around will kill that soon enough.
The current threat is nuclear from Russia.
Not depression or economic collapse.
If you survive the initial event, the world as you know it will be gone when you go outside. Guns, whatever, you’ll need them because others are going to be your main threat. You’ll have no idea about the intentions, or hazards anyone presents from anyone you meet.
Only scavenge what you immediately need.
Sealed drinkable water, canned goods, personal hygiene, and medicines.
Let time be your teacher, and only look after you and your own.