Signs of a declining economy

[DaVinci]

The Great Depression was far worse than the most recent recession, which actually ended in June 2009. Employment is a lagging indicator however, and many businesses are hoarding cash reserves, so the growth is not noticed or appreciated by most regular folks. But seriously, this is only about as bad as 1982. And while I also appreciate KathyH for her anecdotal offering, and while I also strongly support food banks, I am dismayed by the tenor of the discourse here, on both sides, with regard to the poor. Some poor people are in fact undeserving, lazy, manipulative. Some are hard working and decent, and perhaps just incredibly unlucky. One cannot paint the poor with either a purely noble brush or a tainted one. They are many things. As are the rich... some deserving of their bounty and some criminally unworthy. But back and forth in this thread, I hear the familiar tropes of petulant class warfare. Let's please show each other enough respect to allow for all of the observations that have been made here.