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“Nothing like the 30s”
Posted on April 6th, 2009 4 comments
If you want to feel better about the economic situation in Canada, check out this great article by Richard Foot: “Nothing like the 1930s: Canada has sidestepped much of the damage from the global economic crash.” This article is a great reality check, reminding us that things are not as bad as so many newspaper headlines make things out to be. It’s also a reminder that people have been through much, much worse and have survived. In the 30s, they had no universal health care, no EI, no Canada Pension Plan, no severance pay and no provincial welfare. It’s important to keep in mind that not only are things not nearly as bad as they could be (or have been,) people always find ways of surviving. As Prof. Blair Neatby said in his interview:
”We took pride in survival. We shared clothes, we grew our own vegetables, we economized as much as we could. We just assumed we would get through it, and we had little choice.”
How are you feeling about the recession today? Optimistic or pessimistic?
4 responses to ““Nothing like the 30s””
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I choose optimism, given the choice. I think that dwelling on the negative can have a self-fulfilling effect. It’s better to focus on the good stuff.
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You may want to fix this sentence: “Today, we have universal health care, advances in medicine, no EI, no Canada Pension Plan, no severance pay and no provincial welfare.” I’m not sure that’s quite what you meant!
I think that overall, I’m optimistic about the recession. The market will always have its ups and downs. We just happen to be in a “down” period right now. That being said, i think it’s easier to be optimistic when you’re gainly employed like I am.
At the same time though, I disagree with at least part of the author’s point. Sure, people in 2008 aren’t facing near-starvation, sandstorms, etc. but we also started out with more.
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Saver Queen April 6th, 2009 at 13:30
Thanks for those corrections Kate, don’t know how I missed that, haha!
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I am optimistic about our future…although there will be some challenges I hope that maybe we can get back to a more simple, less frazzled way of living. I hope there will be some environmetal benefits as well!
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Twitter: saverqueen
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