More on the D-Word

This is a bit creepy:

Another poll conducted by Rasmussen Reports showed 53% of Americans believe a depression like the 1930s is likely, up from 44% who felt that way two months ago. Thirty-nine percent said a 1930s-style depression was unlikely in the next few years. [1]

Tho I heard Economist Ha-Joon Chang say:

Well, I think we are facing the biggest economic crisis since the Great Depression. Now, it probably wouldn’t get as bad as the Great Depression, because, unlike in the Great Depression, governments are more willing to intervene with deficit spending and nationalizing financial institutions and giving subsidies to industry and so on, whereas in the 1930s they more kind of adamantly held onto free market doctrines, which they subsequently abandoned, but, I mean, there was a period of time when they just held onto it and lost the opportunity. So I don’t think the impact would not be as severe as what it was in the 1930s, but yes, I mean, there’s no question that this is as big or possibly even bigger a crisis than what we saw in 1929. [2]

Sources:

1. Market Watch, Pelosi open to another stimulus if necessary Economists say it's working, but may not be big enough, March 10, 2009

2. Democracy Now, "Economist Ha-Joon Chang on “The Myth of Free Trade and the Secret History of Capitalism”, March 10, 2009.