PANIC, DEPRESSION, RECESSION!

PANIC, DEPRESSION, RECESSION! (Frazer Chronicles)

Polite ways to say that a country is having hard times, where people lose everything that they have acquired and usually have spent every penny that they have. Hard times for everybody, except a lucky few, brought on by.....well, this is where the picture gets real foggy, when the finger pointing and the explaining usually get lost in translation, depending on who is doing the talking.

There have been scores of these financial troubling times during the course of American history, brought on by a myriad of problems. Republicans have been in power, Democrats have been in power, Republican-Democratic, Whig's, National Union and the famous No Party, "there was no political party during George Washington's time as the nations 1st. president.

Before the turn of the 20th century, American had suffered through 25 recorded recessions, or about 50 years of employment and monetary unrest in the first 125 years of the country's history, really not a very good record with regards to a stable society, and a telling reason why the country's industry needed cheap labor.

During the 20th. century the United States, "using the first 124 years of practice," upped the number of unproductive years, and instability for workers to about 55 years. There were 20 recessions and of course the Great Depression that gripped the nation in a vice like situation for 12 years. Unemployment ran as high as a recorded 29%, but when those no longer looking for work is added in, close to 40% of the working public was unemployed at the height of the early 1930's and the depression.

There have been 2 recessions recorded in the first 11 years of the 21st century, laying the groundwork for another unsuccessful century of broken dreams and shallow promises from the people that are elected to do the people's bidding in Washington. It wouldn't be so bad if a recession lasted, oh say.....6 months to a year, but sometimes the "down" times can last from 18 months to 2 years.

By far the biggest remade for financial tough times is war, war brings out the best and the worst in American society.....it seems. I'm not kidding, let me share some unbelievable statistics with "you all." There was a panic, "old term for recession," from 1802-1804 and then from 1807-1810, a recession in 1812, and then the war of 1812.

There was a recession in 1860-1861, then the Civil War, then a recession from 1865-1867, directly after the war, which by the way, devastated the entire country. Again in 1869-1870 there was a slow-down before a really big depression in 1873, which lasted until well into 1879. These recessions after the Civil War, "according to economists" were the direct result of the war between the states.

The Panic of 1896, which lasted until 1897 was a precursor to the Spanish-American war in 1898 which ultimately lead "hard chargin" Teddy Roosevelt to the White house. Before the United States entry into the 1st World War in the spring of 1818, America's economy had been in the "tank" for most of  8 years during the 1st 2 decades of the 20th century.

Of course most of us know what happened in October of 1929, how bad things were for the country, and what actually brought the country out of the tough financial times. December 7th 1941 will always be depicted as one of America's darkest hours, but eventually would lead to some  of the country's highest achievements.

The last of the 1940's and the early 1950's saw unemployment raise to 7.9% and saw the country enter a war in far off Korea over land boundaries and the scare of Communism spreading. The United States supplied 90% of the fighting force, and 75% of the war machinery.

Although U.S. military "advisors" had been in Viet Nam since the late 1940's, and the threat of the "red spread" (Communism) was used to to bolster troop strength in 1961, and triple the count by 1964. There was a recession in 1958 and again in 1960-1961. The battles waged on until finally, in 1975, the United States withdrew from the country with their collective tails between their legs.

Both the 2nd World War and the current war on terror are a bit different because the United States was actually attacked. But non the less, recessions and depressions have occurred before almost every military conflict. One might say that "with all the recessionary history of the country, that is not a surprising statistic," and I would agree.

However I would add that maybe, just maybe.....if the greatest power in the history of the earth, could keep it's financial house in order, we could avoid all the death and upheaval that war brings to people.

Call it whatever you want, panic, depression, recession, hard times, or dumb luck, you'd think that a people that can land a man on the moon could fix whatever is wrong with our financial way of life.