I recently went to a political science seminar that focused on the question: “Is the Great Depression being repeated?” In light of the modern national and global economy, it might seem like we are, in fact, staring into the face of a world-wide catastrophe. The real question is “Have our leaders learned from past mistakes, and can modern society survive another economic disaster of such a scale?”
It often seems that our leadership – no matter who it is – refuses to recall history. Why is this? After all, “those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” Our leaders should be the ones who remember history the best. Politicians should be historians, in their own way, so that they know what has failed over the course of time and can prevent such occurrences from happening again. For example, someone (preferably a leader that possessed some influence) should have noticed that modern economical trends could be likened to those of the 1920s. Today, we have low interest rates, easy credit (e.g., sub-prime loans), and speculative investing – all of which were issues preceding the Great Depression of the 1930s.
Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.
- George Santayana
Unfortunately, I find something scarier about this issue than the possibility of another worldwide depression and the ensuing struggles. This frightening possibility is found in history and can be summed up in a single question: “How has humanity helped itself to overcome past depressions?” The answer, I believe, is that humans have fought wars. Maybe war is just a side effect of hungry people and hard times. However, it has been the economic boost, only found in war time, that has lifted nations out of such a slump. Here is the culmination of my fear – that it will take another war, possibility of global scale, to counter the effects of a major depression. The difference between a modern world war and the last is that the man of today is a master of killing – adept in the ways of death. I wonder if Earth could survive another global conflict. Could we be on the verge of the Last Depression?
Well, if you’ve made it this far, let me congratulate you for being a good sport and for putting up with my rather depressing (get it?) topic. Sometimes it helps me to reflect on this type of thing – to lighten the burden, so to speak. Be comforted that the sun should rise tomorrow and that humanity still has one more chance to come clean.
Disagree? Agree? Annoyed at my heavy use of rhetorical questions? Leave a comment to let me know!