Comparing images from the depression and recession

                                                                                   

   The Great Depression of 1930 was a result of international debt to Europe, increasing tariffs on imports and exports and most notably the Wall Street Crash. As a result huge amounts of people were made redundant whilst the bank systems failed and many were forced to close. This first image is a newspaper article from thanksgiving 1930. Nowadays the average price for Thangskiving will cost $49.50 for a Texas family of 10. In 1930, $5.50 was enough of a struggle for people in America to afford, equivalent to $71.20 according to the Bureau of inflation statistics. This highlights the perilous position people were in at the time, as although food is selling for its least amount since the war, it is still a real struggle for many to even afford this. 

This next image that I have chosen to use is describing the recent Great Depression that affected so many countries. The image above a caption saying "Its bigger than the election and Olympics put together:its our non-stop coverage of recession 2008. It talks about how everything from the dollar to your net worth to hope has all decreased. In contrast fear and anxiety have risen. The constant coverage of the recession would obviously help to create an increased sense of these emotions. It even says that "markets plunge on media reports that markets plunge" giving us the sense that everything is bad in this situation and that even the things that are not subject to market conjecture and faltering. It firms the point that their is not one sector left untouched my the recession.

In comparison, clearly one was worse than the other, in the world we live in today there are for more opportunities than there were in 1930, so a recession then is likely to have a much more destructive impact. Similarity companies did not have the finical muscle back then to survive such situation in the same way that they do now. Ford Motors was a company hugely threatened by the depression in 1930, in 2008 the recession really did not affect it at all in the same way. The one clear premise one can take from both images in relation to the "American Dream" is that it can be gone in a blink of an eye. You can work so hard to achieve wealth, happiness etc, however this can be taken away instantly, something that had happened all to often during 1930 and 2008. You can almost argue that these images are satirical of this concept. That Americans in the land where opportunity is rife can be struggling to pay $5.50 for thanksgiving is farcical. It stresses the issue that no matter your situation, the "American Dream" is as susceptible to destruction as we the people are.