Probably the greatest threat to the economy at the moment is the fact that it is an election year. Right now all the parties on both sides of the border have resorted to fear mongering for political gain. What was initially predicted to be a minor recession or even a near recession has been quickly escalating to a full out crisis of confidence. Unfortunately, the stock market does not measure economic realities, it measures emotions. Right now fear is high and the resultant panic is turning that fear into a reality. Politicians and media are making this situation far worse than it should have been.
That being said, I do not believe that this will be another 'great' depression (so called primarily due to it's length). Not every market crash leads to a depression, the markets actually crash fairly frequently. And not every recession is long and deep. As well, when I read some of the posts on this topic, both here and elsewhere, I am concerned about the depths to which some people think society will sink. The Great Depression was a difficult time, but it wasn't the end of civilization. Some people (again, not just here) appear to be preparing more for the apocalypse rather than a period of economic depression.
I guess one of the benefits of coming from a region where double digit unemployment rates are the norm rather than the exception, is that prophesies of economic doom no longer have the power to frighten me. When I was in my early twenties, the unemployment rate at home for my age group was 22%. The unemployment rate at the height of the Great Depression was 25%. When times are tough, you just do what you have to do. Sometimes things get better, sometimes things get worse, and sometimes they just plain suck. But you work hard, you go without, you get by and life goes on.
