Most of us know very few living Americans with memories of the Great Depression.  The recession from a decade ago was surely brutal but from descriptions of the 1930s was a picnic in comparison.

Stock markets needed 250 years to recover and the fallout resulted in revolutions sweeping Europe, North America, Asia and Africa.

My father and uncles had memories they shared.  The same with my grandparents but now they’re all gone.

If it’s any consolation, they survived what one author called The Worst Hard Time.

Not long after the meltdown of 2007-2008 I was reading an essay from an economist named Robert Prechter.  He warned we were in for the worst slide since the bursting of the South Sea Bubble of 1720.  Stock markets needed 250 years to recover and the fallout resulted in revolutions sweeping Europe, North America, Asia and Africa.  There were two world wars before the two and a half century recovery ended.  Prechter later said he miscalculated but perhaps he was only off by a decade or two.

This didn’t get a lot of media attention this week but from a handful of economists.  The total worldwide debt is staggering.  The United States government is on the hook for 10 percent.  Consumers in North America are also highly leveraged.  Even China, home to a supposed economic miracle is indebted.

We think the last decade has been interesting and fraught with worry.  We haven’t yet seen anything approaching calamity.  Enjoy the weekend.  Fire up the barbecue and have some fun.  Soon it could be in short supply.

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