Guide to Recessions since the Great Depression, courtesy of “My Dog Ate My Blog.”

Posted By Cliff Tuttle | October 17, 2010

No. 521

Below is a link to “My Dog Ate My Blog”  a very entertaining blog that bills itself as “almost educational.”  At the moment, the top post is an infographic created by E. J. Fox, a guest blogger, showing the Great Depression and every other recession since then.  A recession is a period when the GNP contracts.  This infographic shows exactly how much the economy shrank and grew every year since the early thirties.  Several things appear that might surprise you.

1.  The Great Depression only lasted a little less than three years.  There were several years of very respectable growth before the recession of 1937 hit.

2. The post war recession of 1945 and the recession of 1937 were far deeper than anything seen since.

3.  The “Great Recession of 2008” was only a blip on the radar screen compared to 1937 and 1945.

Of course, I recognize that most non-economists measure recessions by unemployment and thus think that the 2008 recession has never gone away. The Infographic shows unemployment during all of the periods of economic downturn, too.  I’ll take today over the recessions of  1937 and 1945 any time.

So check it out on My Dog Ate My Blog.

CLT

Welcome

CLIFF TUTTLE has been a Pennsylvania lawyer for over 45 years and (inter alia) is a real estate litigator and legal writer. The posts in this blog are intended to provide general information about legal topics of interest to lawyers and consumers with a Pittsburgh and Western Pennsylvania focus. However, this information does not constitute legal advice and there is no lawyer-client relationship created when you read this blog. You are encouraged to leave comments but be aware that posted comments can be read by others. If you wish to contact me in privacy, please use the Contact Form located immediately below this message. I will reply promptly and in strict confidence.

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