#greatdepression — Public Fediverse posts
Live and recent posts from across the Fediverse tagged #greatdepression, aggregated by home.social.
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RE: https://mastodon.ozioso.online/@DorotheaLange/117053420612903158
From 1936...
When you may have had a better chance of surviving the #GreatDepression and the #DustBowl and #droughts , than the fascist asshats of the 2020's.
[And... the majority of migrant workers in the 30's and 40's were white US citizens escaping poverty from being dust bowl farmers, with the help of the FWA.]
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RE: https://mastodon.ozioso.online/@DorotheaLange/117053420612903158
From 1936...
When you may have had a better chance of surviving the #GreatDepression and the #DustBowl and #droughts , than the fascist asshats of the 2020's.
[And... the majority of migrant workers in the 30's and 40's were white US citizens escaping poverty from being dust bowl farmers, with the help of the FWA.]
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17 Great Depression recipes people still use during hard times https://www.diningandcooking.com/2754386/17-great-depression-recipes-people-still-use-during-hard-times-2/ #19291939 #1930s #AshCakes #Cooking #food #FrugalMeals #GreatDepression #GreatDepressionCake #GreatDepressionFood #GreatDepressionMeals #GreatDepressionRecipe #GreatDepressionRecipes #GreatDepressionSoup #GreatestGeneration #HooverStew #RecipeTopics #Recipes #RivelSoup #SoupRecipes #StewRecipes #TheGreatDepression #TomatoSoupCake #WackyCake #WaterPie
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17 Great Depression recipes people still use during hard times https://www.diningandcooking.com/2754386/17-great-depression-recipes-people-still-use-during-hard-times-2/ #19291939 #1930s #AshCakes #Cooking #food #FrugalMeals #GreatDepression #GreatDepressionCake #GreatDepressionFood #GreatDepressionMeals #GreatDepressionRecipe #GreatDepressionRecipes #GreatDepressionSoup #GreatestGeneration #HooverStew #RecipeTopics #Recipes #RivelSoup #SoupRecipes #StewRecipes #TheGreatDepression #TomatoSoupCake #WackyCake #WaterPie
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#DemocraticSocialism Is the Compromise Position
Given our scale of #inequality, the #egalitarian reforms of democratic socialism are only the start of what we should strive for.
Kyle Schmidlin, Jul 31, 2026
Excerpt: "Reforming the #SecondGildedAge
"Whether or not one agrees with such ideas, it’s a discussion that free people are within their rights to have. Though we often treat #capitalism as a national religion, there’s nothing sacred about it. Even the US Constitution is surprisingly agnostic on questions of economic organization. It’s not encoded in our DNA—in fact, we are much more naturally inclined toward cooperation than competition. Humans have a virtually infinite number of ways we can arrange society, and we are in desperate need of rethinking ours.
"Because for the last few decades, the American economy has grown ever more off-balance, to the point where many analysts now say we’re in a second #GildedAge. We recently minted the world’s first trillionaire, while about half of us would be wiped out by any major illness, accident, or job loss. Workers have lost power, essentials like housing and healthcare are increasingly out of reach, and practically all the gains of our productivity have been accumulated at the very top, with #corporations posting record profits. #Billionaires are multiplying their wealth faster than ever, building anti-revolution doomsday bunkers, and plotting to rule their own fiefdoms as #CEOKings.
"We live in a society that’s obsessed with law and order for things like #shoplifting or overstaying a visa, but largely looks the other way on #CorporateCrimes like #pollution, #WageTheft, and #fraud—not to mention #WarCrimes and #genocide. The president is a convicted felon who wants you to ignore his decades-long friendship with a child sex trafficker and instead fear and hate the immigrant next door.
"In such a system, elites should feel relieved that people are only demanding, say, a few public options for groceries, rather than revolting. The wealthy surely all took note of the public reaction to #LuigiMangione, who is accused of murdering United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson on the streets of New York City. Mangione became a cultural icon who was openly celebrated in many circles, making clear the rage simmering within America’s dispossessed.
"There’s a reason the progressive California Rep. #RoKhanna refers to a tax on wealth as an #AntiRevolution tax, or an attempt to save capitalism from itself. Progressive Democrats like Khanna often mediate between capitalist centers of power and the party’s left-wing base, who largely feel fed up with the party’s incremental approach of making small tweaks here and there. Democratic socialism, as practiced in today’s America, is still essentially incrementalism, but they’re much bigger increments.
"Such a model works well in places like #Finland, #Iceland, and #Denmark. These countries have high taxes, but they get far more out of them than we do. As a result they are consistently ranked as the happiest countries on Earth, with excellent numbers for education, homelessness, poverty, healthcare, life expectancy, and infant mortality—all areas in which the US, with its profit-first approach to every problem, is lagging behind.
"#HighTaxes and a mixed economy also once worked well in the #UnitedStates. We dug ourselves out of the #GreatDepression with the #NewDeal. Government programs brought electricity to rural areas and established safety nets and Social Security. Our middle class boomed after World War II, when taxes were the highest they’ve ever been.
"#Republicans and #BigBusiness called that #socialism, too. They even conspired to overthrow President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Now, faced with another socialist menace, they’re playing just as dirty."
Read more:
https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/democratic-socialism-compromise#TaxTheRich #WealthTax #DSA #RedScare #USPol #WorldPol #CorporateColonialism #EpsteinClass
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#DemocraticSocialism Is the Compromise Position
Given our scale of #inequality, the #egalitarian reforms of democratic socialism are only the start of what we should strive for.
Kyle Schmidlin, Jul 31, 2026
Excerpt: "Reforming the #SecondGildedAge
"Whether or not one agrees with such ideas, it’s a discussion that free people are within their rights to have. Though we often treat #capitalism as a national religion, there’s nothing sacred about it. Even the US Constitution is surprisingly agnostic on questions of economic organization. It’s not encoded in our DNA—in fact, we are much more naturally inclined toward cooperation than competition. Humans have a virtually infinite number of ways we can arrange society, and we are in desperate need of rethinking ours.
"Because for the last few decades, the American economy has grown ever more off-balance, to the point where many analysts now say we’re in a second #GildedAge. We recently minted the world’s first trillionaire, while about half of us would be wiped out by any major illness, accident, or job loss. Workers have lost power, essentials like housing and healthcare are increasingly out of reach, and practically all the gains of our productivity have been accumulated at the very top, with #corporations posting record profits. #Billionaires are multiplying their wealth faster than ever, building anti-revolution doomsday bunkers, and plotting to rule their own fiefdoms as #CEOKings.
"We live in a society that’s obsessed with law and order for things like #shoplifting or overstaying a visa, but largely looks the other way on #CorporateCrimes like #pollution, #WageTheft, and #fraud—not to mention #WarCrimes and #genocide. The president is a convicted felon who wants you to ignore his decades-long friendship with a child sex trafficker and instead fear and hate the immigrant next door.
"In such a system, elites should feel relieved that people are only demanding, say, a few public options for groceries, rather than revolting. The wealthy surely all took note of the public reaction to #LuigiMangione, who is accused of murdering United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson on the streets of New York City. Mangione became a cultural icon who was openly celebrated in many circles, making clear the rage simmering within America’s dispossessed.
"There’s a reason the progressive California Rep. #RoKhanna refers to a tax on wealth as an #AntiRevolution tax, or an attempt to save capitalism from itself. Progressive Democrats like Khanna often mediate between capitalist centers of power and the party’s left-wing base, who largely feel fed up with the party’s incremental approach of making small tweaks here and there. Democratic socialism, as practiced in today’s America, is still essentially incrementalism, but they’re much bigger increments.
"Such a model works well in places like #Finland, #Iceland, and #Denmark. These countries have high taxes, but they get far more out of them than we do. As a result they are consistently ranked as the happiest countries on Earth, with excellent numbers for education, homelessness, poverty, healthcare, life expectancy, and infant mortality—all areas in which the US, with its profit-first approach to every problem, is lagging behind.
"#HighTaxes and a mixed economy also once worked well in the #UnitedStates. We dug ourselves out of the #GreatDepression with the #NewDeal. Government programs brought electricity to rural areas and established safety nets and Social Security. Our middle class boomed after World War II, when taxes were the highest they’ve ever been.
"#Republicans and #BigBusiness called that #socialism, too. They even conspired to overthrow President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Now, faced with another socialist menace, they’re playing just as dirty."
Read more:
https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/democratic-socialism-compromise#TaxTheRich #WealthTax #DSA #RedScare #USPol #WorldPol #CorporateColonialism #EpsteinClass
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8 Depression-era Thanksgiving meal ideas that still hold up today
Thanksgiving is right around…
#dining #cooking #diet #food #RecipeTopics #1929-1939 #cheapthanksgivingrecipes #easyThanksgivingrecipes #greatdepression #greatdepressioncake #greatdepressionfood #greatdepressionpie #greatdepressionrecipes #greatestgeneration #recipeideas #Recipes #thanksgiving #thegreatdepression #waterpie
https://www.diningandcooking.com/2754129/8-depression-era-thanksgiving-meal-ideas-that-still-hold-up-today-2/ -
8 Depression-era Thanksgiving meal ideas that still hold up today
Thanksgiving is right around…
#dining #cooking #diet #food #RecipeTopics #1929-1939 #cheapthanksgivingrecipes #easyThanksgivingrecipes #greatdepression #greatdepressioncake #greatdepressionfood #greatdepressionpie #greatdepressionrecipes #greatestgeneration #recipeideas #Recipes #thanksgiving #thegreatdepression #waterpie
https://www.diningandcooking.com/2754129/8-depression-era-thanksgiving-meal-ideas-that-still-hold-up-today-2/ -
8 Depression-era Thanksgiving meal ideas that still hold up today https://www.diningandcooking.com/2754129/8-depression-era-thanksgiving-meal-ideas-that-still-hold-up-today-2/ #19291939 #CheapThanksgivingRecipes #EasyThanksgivingRecipes #GreatDepression #GreatDepressionCake #GreatDepressionFood #GreatDepressionPie #GreatDepressionRecipes #GreatestGeneration #RecipeIdeas #RecipeTopics #Recipes #thanksgiving #TheGreatDepression #WaterPie
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8 Depression-era Thanksgiving meal ideas that still hold up today https://www.diningandcooking.com/2754129/8-depression-era-thanksgiving-meal-ideas-that-still-hold-up-today-2/ #19291939 #CheapThanksgivingRecipes #EasyThanksgivingRecipes #GreatDepression #GreatDepressionCake #GreatDepressionFood #GreatDepressionPie #GreatDepressionRecipes #GreatestGeneration #RecipeIdeas #RecipeTopics #Recipes #thanksgiving #TheGreatDepression #WaterPie
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17 Great Depression recipes people still cook today during hard times
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17 Great Depression recipes people still cook today during hard times
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Spirituality & Religious Studies @spiritualityreligiousstudies.wordpress.com@spiritualityreligiousstudies.wordpress.com ·Ashkenazi Jews
Author’s Note: This post has mentions of Nazis, the Holocaust, & Nazi Germany. We completely understand if you wish to skip over this post. We’ll catch you in the next one!
Also known as Ashkenazic Jews, Ashkenazis, or Ashkenazim.
This is a form of distinct ethnic subdivision of the Jewish Diaspora. Emerging from the Jewish communities that consolidated during the 10th century in the Rhineland (Western Germany) & northern France. They migrated there from centers such as the Italian peninsula & the Southern Levant. This includes present-day Lebanon, Israel, Palestine, & Jordan.
After numerous massacres of Jews during the Crusades (11th-13th centuries), they began a gradual eastward migration due to mounting restrictions within the Holy Roman Empire & the favorable policies of Casimir the Great & others.
This diaspora ramped up after the persecution during the Black Death of the 14th century. The bulk of the Ashkenazi Jews had migrated to the Kingdom of Poland (which includes modern-day Poland, Lithuania, Belarus, Ukraine, & parts of Russia). This area became the main center of Ashkenazi Jewry until the Holocaust.
Ashkenazim adapted their traditions, rites, & customs to Europe. They traditionally followed the German rite synagogue ritual & until the Holocaust primarily spoke Yiddish, an offshoot of Middle High German written in a variety of the Hebrew script, with significant Hebrew, Aramaic, & Slavic influences.
The Yiddish language progressively declined in prestige, in favor of national languages & Hebrew, being stigmatized by assimilationists & later also Zionists. Though it was spoken by over 11 million people worldwide before the Holocaust. The Yiddishist movement, which sought to preserve & revive the language, faded through the 20th century. Including Duolingo adding Yiddish as a language.
As a proportion of the world Jewish population, Ashkenazim were estimated to be 3% in the 11th century, rising to 92% in 1930, near the population’s peak. The Ashkenazi population was significantly diminished by the Holocaust carried out by Nazi Germany during WWII, which killed around 6 million Jews. Before WWII, the estimated worldwide Jewish population was 15.3-16.7 million, with 92% being Ashkenazi. As of 2023, the population of Ashkenazim was estimated to be around 10-13 million out of 15.8 million total Jews.
The name Ashkenazi comes from the biblical figure of Ashkenaz. He’s the 1st son of Gomer, grandson of Japhet, great-grandson of Noah, & a Japhetic patriarch in the Table of Nations. The name for Gomer has often been linked to the Cimmerians.
The Biblical Ashkenazis are usually derived from Assyrian Askuza, a people who expelled the Cimmerians from the Armenian area of the Upper Euphrates. The name Askuza is identified with the Scythians.
In Jeremiah 51:27, Ashkenaz figures as 1 of 3 kingdoms in the far north, the others being Minni (or Mannaea), an ancient kingdom that flourished in northwestern Iran, & Arrat (corresponding to Urartu), called on by God to resist Babylon.
Ashkenaz is linked to Scandza/Scanzia (usually identified with Scandinavia), viewed as the cradle of Germanic tribes, in the 6th-century gloss to the Historia Ecclesiastica of Eusebius. In the 10th century, in the History of Armenia of Yovhannes Drasxanakertci, Ashkenaz was associated with Armenia.
As it was occasionally in Jewish usage, where its denotation extended at times to Adiabene, Khazaria, Chimea, & areas to the east. They’re also identified with the Slavim or Slavs. In keeping with the custom of designating areas of Jewish settlement with biblical names, Spain was called Sefarad (Obadiah 20), France was called Tsarefat (I Kings 17:9), & Bohemia was called the Land of Canaan.
Given the close links between the Jewish communities of France & Germany following the Carolingian unification, the term Ashkenazi came to refer to the Jews of both medieval Germany & France.
In later times, the word Ashkenaz is used to designate southern & western Germany, the ritual of which sections differs somewhat from that of eastern Germany & Poland. Thus, the prayer book of Isaiah Horowitz (a prominent rabbi & mystic), & many others, give the piyyutim (a Jewish liturgical poem), according to the Minhag of Ashkenaz & Poland. A Minhag is an accepted tradition or group of traditions in Judaism.
In a religious sense, an Ashkenazi Jew is any Jew whose family tradition & synagogue ritual follow Ashkenazi practices (German rite). Until the Ashkenazi community 1st began to develop in the Early Middle Ages, the centers of Jewish religious authority were in the Islamic world, at Baghdad & Islamic Spain. German Ashkenaz was so geographically distant that it developed a minhag of its own.
The counterpart of Ashkenazi is Sephardic. Since most non-Ashkenazi Orthodox Jews follow Sephardic rabbinical authorities, whether or not they’re ethnically Sephardic. By tradition, a Sephardic or Mizrahi (a.k.a. Oriental Jews; Jews who lived in the Muslim world) who married into an Orthodox or Haredi (a.k.a. ultra-Orthodox) Ashkenazi Jewish family raises her kids to be Ashkenazi Jews.
On the other hand, an Ashkenazi woman who married a Sephardi or Mizrahi is expected to take on Sephardic practices & the kids will “inherit” a Sephardic identity. Though in practice, many families do compromise. A “convert” usually follows the practice of the rabbinical court (beth din) that converted them.
Culturally, an Ashkenazi Jew can be identified by the concept of Yiddishkeit, which means “Jewishness” in the Yiddish language. Before the Haskalah (a.k.a. the Jewish Enlightenment) & the emancipation of Jews in Europe, this meant the study of the Torah & the Talmud for men, & communal life governed by the observance of Jewish Law for men & women.
From the Rhineland to Riga (the largest city in Latvia) to Romania, most Jews prayed in liturgical Ashkenazi Hebrew, & spoke Yiddish in their secular (worldly) lives. But with modernization, Yiddishkeit now includes not just Orthodoxy & Hasidism, but a broader range of movements, ideologies, practices, & traditions in which Ashkenazi have participated & somehow kept a sense of Jewishness. Although pockets of Jews still speak Yiddish, Yiddishkeit can be identified in manners of speech, styles of humor, & in patterns of association.
As Ashkenazi Jews moved away from Europe, mostly in the form of aliyah to Israel. Or immigration to North America, South Africa, Europe (particularly France), & Latin America, the geographic isolation has given way to mixing with other cultures, & with non-Ashkenazi Jews who, similarly, are no longer isolated in distinct geographic locales.
Hebrew has replaced Yiddish as the primary Jewish language for many Ashkenazi Jews. Although many Hasidic & Hareidi groups still use Yiddish in daily life. Aliyah is the immigration of Jews from the diaspora to, historically, the geographic Land of Israel or the Palestine region, where the State of Israel was established.
France’s blended Jewish community is typical of the cultural recombination that’s going on among Jews throughout the world. Although France expelled its original Jewish population in the Middle Ages, by the time of the French Revolution, there were 2 distinct Jewish populations.
One consisted of Sephardic Jews, originally refugees from the Inquisition (which no one expects! Sorry, we’re Monty Python fans here.) & concentrated in the southwest. While the other community was Ashkenazi, concentrated in formerly German Alsace, & mainly speaking a German dialect similar to Yiddish.
The 3rd community of Provencal Jews living in Comtat Venaissin was technically outside France, & was later absorbed into the Sephardim. Comtat Venaissin (called Comtat, for short) was a part of the Papal States from 1274 to 1791.
But after emancipation, a sense of a unified French Jewry emerged, especially when France was wracked by the Dreyfus Affair in the 1890s. (We’ll be doing a post about the Dreyfus Affair.) In the 1920s & 30s, Ashkenazi Jews from Europe arrived in large numbers as refugees from antisemitism, the Russian Revolution, & the economic turmoil of the Great Depression.
By the 1930s, Paris had a vibrant Yiddish culture, & many Jews were involved in diverse political movements. After the Vichy years & the Holocaust, the French Jewish population was augmented once again, 1st by Ashkenazi refugees from Central Europe, & later by Sephardi immigrants & refugees from North Africa, many of them francophone. Francophone refers to people/organizations who use French (language) regularly.
Ashkenazi Jews didn’t transmit their traditions or achievements by text. Instead, these traditions were passed down orally from one generation to the next. The desire to maintain pre-Holocaust traditions relating to Ashkenazi culture has often been met with criticism by Jews in Eastern Europe.
In an ethnic sense, an Ashkenazi Jew is a descendant of the Jews who settled in the Central European region of “Ashkenaz.” For roughly 1,000 years, the Ashkenazim were a reproductively isolated population in Europe.
Despite living in many countries, with little inflow or outflow of countries from migration, conversion, or intermarriage with other groups, including other Jews. Since the mid-20th century, many Ashkenazi Jews have intermarried, both with members of other Jewish communities & non-Jews.
Religious persecution of the Jews in Western & Central Europe led to a significant migration of the Ashkenazi Jews into Eastern Europe. This resulted in a major cultural divide between Western/Central & Eastern Ashkenazi communities. In particular, this was reflected in the division of Yiddish into Western & Eastern Yiddish dialects. As well as in other cultural distinctions: traditions, food, dress, etc.
Initially, the Jews of Eastern Europe enjoyed relative freedom in terms of movement, being invited by the kings of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Over time, the situation was reversed. By the 19th century, the Jews in the West had gradually been integrated into the general society.
While the Eastern Ashkenazi maintained their strict Jewish traditions & were mostly confined to ghettos, especially in the Pale of Settlement of the Russian Empire, which incorporated a considerable amount of land where the Eastern Ashkenazi lived: Poland & Lithuania.
Well-known differences in practices include:
- Observance of Passover (Pesach)
- Ashkenazi Jews traditionally refrain from eating legumes, grain, millet, & rice. Quinoa has become accepted as a food grain in North American communities. Sephardi Jews typically don’t prohibit these foods.
- Notwithstanding stricter requirements for the ACTUAL slaughter, Sephardi Jews permit the rear portions of an animal after proper Halakhic removal of the sciatic nerve. While many Ashkenazi Jews don’t.
- Ashkenazi Jews often name newborns after deceased family members, not after living relatives. Sephardi Jews often name their kids after their grandparents, even if those grandparents are still living. An exception to this is among Dutch Jews, where Ashkenazi for centuries used naming conventions otherwise attributed exclusively to Sephardim, such as Chuts. Chuts is the name given to Jews who immigrated to London from the Netherlands in the 1850s-1860s.
- Ashkenazi tefillins are wound toward the body, not away from it. Ashkenazim put on the tefillin while standing up. Other Jews generally do so while sitting down. A tefillin(s) is/are sets of small black leather boxes with leather straps having scrolls of parchment written with verses of the Torah inside.
- The prayer shawl (tallit/tallis) is worn by all Ashkenazi men AFTER marriage. Except for Western European Ashkenazi men who wear it from the bar mitzvah. In Sephardi or Mizrahi Judaism, the prayer shawl is commonly worn from early childhood.
The term Ashkenazi also refers to the Nusach Ashkenaz, the liturgical tradition used by Ashkenazi Jews in their siddur (prayer book). A nusach is defined by a liturgical tradition’s choice of prayers, the text of prayers & melodies used in the singing of prayers. 2 other major forms of nusach among Ashkenazi Jews are Nusach Sefard (not to be confused with the Sephardic ritual), which is the general Polish Hasidic nusach, and Nusach Ari, used by those in Chabad.
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#10thCentury #11thCentury #1274 #13thCentury #14thCentury #1790 #1791 #1850s #1860s #1890s #1920s #1930 #1930s #19thCentury #20thCentury #21stCentury #6thCentury #Adiabene #Aliyah #Aramaic #Armenia #Arrat #AshkenaziJews #Ashkenazim #Askuza #Assyrian #Babylon #Belarus #BethDin #BlackDeath #Bohemia #Canaan #Carolingian #CasmirTheGreat #CentalEurope #CentralEurope #Chabad #Chimea #Chuts #Cimmerians #Comtat #ComtatVenaissin #Crusades #DreyfusAffair #Duolingo #EarlyMiddleAges #EasternEurope #Europe #Eusebius #France #GermanAlsace #GermanRite #Germany #Gomer #GreatDepression #Halakic #Haredi #Hasidism #Haskalah #Hebrew #HistoriaEcclesiastica #HistoryOfArmenia #Holocaust #HolyRomanEmpire #IKings179 #IsaiahHorowitz #Islam #Israel #ItalianPeninsula #Japhet #Jeremiah5127 #JewishDiaspora #JewishEnlightenment #JewishLaw #Jordan #Judaism #Khazaria #KingdomOfPoland #LatinAmerica #Lebanon #Levant #Lithuania #London #Mannaea #MiddleAges #MiddleHighGerman #Minhag #Minni #Mizrahi #Muslim #Netherlands #Noah #NorthAfrica #NorthAmerica #NorthernFrance #NorthwesternIran #NusachSefard #OrientalJews #Orthodox #PaleOfSettlement #Palestine #PapalStates #Paris #Passover #Pesach #Piyyutim #Poland #PolishLithuanianCommonwealth #prayerBook #PrayerShawl #Provencal #Rhineland #Riga #Romania #Russia #RussianEmpire #RussianRevolution #Scandinavia #Scythians #Sefarad #Sephardic #Siddur #Slavic #SouthAfrica #SouthernLevant #Spain #StateOfIsrael #synagogue #TableOfNations #Tallis #Tallit #Talmud #Tefillins #Torah #Tsarefat #Ukraine #UltraOrthodox #UpperEuphrates #Vichy #WesternGermany #WorldWarII #Yiddish #Yiddishkeit #YovhannesDrasxanakertci #Zionists - Observance of Passover (Pesach)
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*#DRAM price hikes are unwarranted--Party Like It's 1999*
(7/n)
... #Taiwan quake incident subsequently led to the elimination of a complete #Stockmarket segment (the #NeueMarkt,) I am afraid a global crash could be in the league of the 1929 #GreatDepression.
I haven't done an analysis, but the new core technology of the 20th century, #Electricity, could be yet another worthwhile case study...
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*#DRAM price hikes are unwarranted--Party Like It's 1999*
(7/n)
... #Taiwan quake incident subsequently led to the elimination of a complete #Stockmarket segment (the #NeueMarkt,) I am afraid a global crash could be in the league of the 1929 #GreatDepression.
I haven't done an analysis, but the new core technology of the 20th century, #Electricity, could be yet another worthwhile case study...
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“Let’s go to the numbers”*…
From the McKinsey Global Institute, the executive summary of their snapshot– a “balance sheet”– of the global economy…
• The global balance sheet takes stock of all assets, liabilities, and wealth, providing a lens into economic health. This annual update estimates that it reached nearly $1.8 quadrillion ($1,800 trillion) in 2025, up from $1.7 quadrillion in 2024. Several asset classes grew further out of balance with the underlying economy, raising the possibility of corrections through inflation, asset valuation losses, or, optimally, productivity growth.
• The balance sheet’s mounting detachment from the global economy was driven by the world’s two biggest economies in 2025. US equity values soared to 2.4 times corporate net assets as profits were double their share of GDP since 2000. China’s corporate debt grew to 80 percent of real assets, versus 50 percent globally. Government debt remains near all-time highs in the United States and has grown most rapidly in China.
• Globally, most corporate and household debt and real estate moved closer to 25-year averages relative to GDP. Inflation helped with this normalization, although values remain well above pre-2000 levels. The ratio of productive assets to GDP held steady amid flat investment.
• Global household wealth growth rose to a new high of $570 trillion, driven by “paper” gains. Only 20 percent came from real capital formation, while valuations of existing assets grew four percentage points faster than already-high consumer price inflation. In the United States and Canada, equity values drove wealth growth. China, France, and Germany saw a drop in paper wealth as real estate prices declined. In the United Kingdom and Japan, inflation pushed up asset values.
• Major economies were on different pathways entering 2026. The United States has been in a “productivity acceleration” scenario, but high public debt and equities add the possibility of “sustained inflation” or “balance sheet reset.” Europe has gravitated toward “secular stagnation” as sluggish demand depresses growth and interest rates. China has experienced a partial balance sheet reset amid declining property values, although government spending and corporate investment have continued to propel balance sheet growth.
In this report, we provide an update on the global balance sheet in 2025, exploring to what extent its recent expansion, and by extension wealth growth, has been “in balance.” The analysis finds that wealth was, to an even greater extent than previously, rooted in asset values rising faster than real economy investment and growth, creating record levels of global wealth “on paper.”
Although many economies that were studied experienced wealth and balance sheet swings, the global picture was largely driven by its two biggest: the United States and China. Higher US equity values and the accumulation of China’s public and private debt brought some near-term economic benefits but left their economies more vulnerable to potential corrections.
Businesses use both income statements and balance sheets to develop a complete picture of their financial health. Analysts of the global economy tend to focus on the former. Since 2021, MGI has developed a “global balance sheet” to fill this gap, representing a clearer view into the world economy’s wealth and health.
Our previous reports found that from the mid-1990s to the COVID-19 pandemic, household wealth expanded faster than gross domestic product. Asset prices for real estate, equities, and bonds grew, as did debt and deposits. This occurred amid declining (and eventually rock-bottom) interest rates, rapidly expanding US profits, and a property boom in China. Productivity did not keep pace across advanced economies, nor did real wealth formation through net new investment.
When the balance sheet outruns the underlying economy, weaknesses can be exposed. When real estate and equity values rise faster than GDP, capital may disproportionately go to asset repurchases, sometimes with a lot of leverage. This may push up valuations but leave the economy deprived of the type of investment that generates long-run growth. For households, wealth rises but merely on paper, with heightened risks of eventual corrections. Growing asset values also tend to exacerbate wealth inequality, as existing owners of wealth see large gains while entering asset markets becomes harder for others (for example, young households trying to buy a home).
Elevated balance sheets may correct in one of three ways. A productivity acceleration scenario involves higher income supporting high asset values and debt; this is the most preferred outcome. A sustained inflation scenario brings down the real values of assets and debt, recalibrating the balance sheet with higher nominal GDP. But it can erode inflation-adjusted wealth along with other undesirable side effects. A balance sheet reset scenario, entailing a drop in asset values, deleveraging, and defaults, would shrink the balance sheet in absolute terms, with severe wealth losses and, often, lengthy periods of lost economic growth. Or the balance sheet may just stay high, particularly under secular-stagnation-like conditions of low investment and interest rates, as seen in the United States and Europe in the 2010s. That’s seemingly good for wealth, but at the cost of low growth and rising leverage.
Historically, most balance sheet corrections have taken place through higher inflation. Indeed, the inflation coming out of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States and Europe brought a correction in the balance sheet (and wealth) ratio to GDP. In China, a drop in property values drove a decline in wealth to GDP.
In 2025, global wealth reached a higher dollar value than ever before. But how “healthy” was this new growth? After postpandemic corrections, some balance sheet items have resumed expansion and reached new heights. This was particularly the case for US equity as AI fueled market optimism and corporate earnings continued to climb. Rising government debt relative to GDP remains a challenge in many economies amid higher interest rates. Stocks of currency and deposits remain high compared to longer-term historical norms. Altogether, this has culminated in even more wealth on paper than in the past several decades and raises the stakes for US corporate earnings to deliver.
Balance sheets, and macroeconomic factors like productivity and inflation, point to diverging trends across major economies. Recognizing the swing factors that can shift an economy to productivity acceleration is more urgent than ever: for the United States, corporate earnings and greater government saving (in other words, less borrowing); for Europe, greater investment; for China, higher domestic consumption.
Future global wealth and stability may depend on it…
[The report unpacks 0with lots of charts/data) the contents– the constituent elements– of the balance sheet, examines whether or not it is “in balance,” and considers whether the growth that it reflects has been “healthy.” (McKinsey worries that it has not been.) It concludes, addressing the executives who are McKinsey’s primary clients…]
… A balance sheet that is out of kilter with the economy—in other words, with high paper wealth fueled by debt and liquidity levels significantly above historical norms—can unwind via higher productivity, higher inflation, or asset price corrections. Balance sheets may also remain large, typically under secular-stagnation-like conditions, effectively kicking the can down the road for potential correction.
Each of these four scenarios shapes the long-term economic outlook. Only productivity acceleration delivers real economic growth justifying valuations, thus protecting wealth. The others sacrifice wealth, growth, or both. Sustained inflation reduces real values of wealth, secular stagnation sees low growth, and a balance sheet reset signals a loss of wealth and growth. Importantly for business leaders, two scenarios would likely mean structurally higher interest rates: Productivity acceleration would entail greater demand for capital amid higher business investment, while sustained inflation would likely involve central banks tightening policy rates and, ultimately, higher long-term yields.
All scenarios are possible for all major economies. However, they appear to be on different pathways, with different swing factors that could move them from one trajectory to another.
For executives, this means both preparing for an unusually broad array of economic pathways and carefully watching the swing factors, which rise above the noise of daily indicators (see sidebar “Business planning for all scenarios”). Leaders across sectors and industries could also explore ways to encourage the optimal outcome, the productivity acceleration scenario.
Major economies show significant divergence in trends across macro drivers of productivity, inflation, and interest rates, along with fundamental balance sheet components including real estate, equity, and debt.
The United States has seen a structural uptick in both productivity growth and interest rates relative to the prepandemic period. Productive investment, particularly driven by the tech sector, has recently grown. High equity values also signal market confidence, although they may pose some downside risks. Meanwhile, inflation remains above the Federal Reserve’s 2 percent target and government debt remains near all-time highs, adding further inflation risk.
The eurozone has experienced a return to secular-stagnation-like conditions, akin to the prepandemic period, amid flat productivity and higher saving. Europe’s balance sheets overall appear more in balance compared to the US balance sheet (with a few exceptions, such as Italy’s government debt). Productivity growth rates, however, are down across the region’s three largest economies (Germany, France, and Italy). Until recently, inflation was mostly trending toward the European Central Bank’s 2 percent target, although Europe is more exposed to energy price changes. Personal savings rates remain high amid a drop in aggregate demand and per capita household wealth has declined in PPP terms in Germany and France.3 Productive investment remains below prepandemic and global averages.
China continues to work through a partial balance sheet reset in the face of a continued decline in real estate, with questions about future growth drivers amid low household demand and a boom in corporate investment. Productivity growth has receded in recent years, although it remains above the rate in advanced economies. Inflation and, in tandem, nominal interest rates have dropped, and concerns have shifted to dealing with deflation risks. At a macro level, lower household property investment has been offset by higher corporate investment, especially among state-owned enterprises, and by government spending. This has coincided with a substantial rise in corporate and government debt, both reaching all-time highs.
While the United States is the only major economy showing signs of productivity acceleration, it is not guaranteed long term, and other economies have a potential path to it. Focusing on “swing factors” could help filter signal from noise in the daily flow of indicators, market fluctuations, and political headlines. These factors differ by economy.
In the United States, swing factors that could knock the economy out of productivity acceleration include the “fiscal tightrope” and corporate earnings.
- Government debt stands at about 120 percent of GDP. Combined with higher interest rates, this means more public spending will need to be directed toward debt repayment. Public spending could come under pressure, especially from bond investors, in the form of higher market interest rates. These translate into higher business costs of capital. If fiscal policy tightens too little, a public debt crisis or sustained inflation becomes more likely. Too much, and secular stagnation is a potential outcome. To bring budgets back into balance, greater fiscal saving (or lower borrowing) on the order of three percentage points of GDP would be needed.
- On the corporate-earnings side, an equity or wealth reset could be triggered by a large structural shift in the longer-term outlook—for example, from AI disappointment or large geopolitical disruption. Equities are at all-time highs, at 3.7 times GDP and 2.4 times net assets, and constitute nearly 40 percent of household wealth. A price correction could result in a sharp pullback in demand, ushering in an extended period of low growth. It is thus imperative that corporate earnings deliver on high expectations…
Eminently worth reading in full: “The global balance sheet 2026: Imbalance and divergence.”
See also: “World Economic Situation and Prospects 2026” from UNCTAD (the UN Trade and Development Organization), whose review of the global finacial situation resonates with McKinsey’s, but whose recommendations are targeted to global policy makers and development champions:
• Strengthen coordination across macroeconomic policies. Monetary policy alone cannot manage persistent price pressures. Better alignment between monetary, fiscal and industrial policies is essential to stabilise inflation, support investment and protect vulnerable groups.
• Use fiscal policy strategically and credibly. Targeted and temporary measures can help protect households from high prices and support social cohesion, while credible medium-term fiscal plans and prudent debt management are essential to rebuild fiscal space.
• Scale up multilateral cooperation and development finance. Implementing commitments under the Sevilla Commitment, including debt reform and expanded concessional and climate finance, is vital to closing investment gaps and reducing systemic risks.
• Reinforce an open, rules-based trading system. Strengthening transparency, predictability and cooperation in global trade remains central to sustaining growth and limiting fragmentation in an increasingly uncertain global economy.
And for a differently-flavored kind of accounting: “What the Big Mac index reveals about a global currency beef.”
* Catchphrase often used by financial and sports journalists to transition to statistics or financial data, e.g., on public radio’s wonderful Marketplace.
###
As we ponder the political economy, we might recall (hoping that history doesn’t repeat itself) that on this date in 1929, while the U.S. economy was already showing signs of strain (agricultural strains and a sagging consumer market), the U.S., its businesses, and its financial markets were still in the “Roaring Twenties.” Roughly three months later (on October 24, 1929, “Black Thursday,” and October 29, 1929, “Black Tuesday”) America– and the world– suffered the Wall Street crash of 1929 and began the slide into the Great Depression.
By this date in 1932, stocks had lost roughly 90% of the value they had had three years earlier. GDP in the U.S. had fallen 30%; GDP around the world was down 15%. International trade fell by more than 50%, and unemployment in some countries rose as high as 33% (peaking in 1933 at 25% in the U.S.).
Unemployed people lined up outside a soup kitchen opened in Chicago by Al Capone, February 1931 (source) #balanceSheet #BlackThursday #BlackTuesday #business #CrashOf1929 #culture #economics #economy #equity #finance #globalEconomy #GreatDepression #history #McKinseyGlobalInstitute #politics #RoaringTwenties #stockMarket #trade #UNCTAD -
“Let’s go to the numbers”*…
From the McKinsey Global Institute, the executive summary of their snapshot– a “balance sheet”– of the global economy…
• The global balance sheet takes stock of all assets, liabilities, and wealth, providing a lens into economic health. This annual update estimates that it reached nearly $1.8 quadrillion ($1,800 trillion) in 2025, up from $1.7 quadrillion in 2024. Several asset classes grew further out of balance with the underlying economy, raising the possibility of corrections through inflation, asset valuation losses, or, optimally, productivity growth.
• The balance sheet’s mounting detachment from the global economy was driven by the world’s two biggest economies in 2025. US equity values soared to 2.4 times corporate net assets as profits were double their share of GDP since 2000. China’s corporate debt grew to 80 percent of real assets, versus 50 percent globally. Government debt remains near all-time highs in the United States and has grown most rapidly in China.
• Globally, most corporate and household debt and real estate moved closer to 25-year averages relative to GDP. Inflation helped with this normalization, although values remain well above pre-2000 levels. The ratio of productive assets to GDP held steady amid flat investment.
• Global household wealth growth rose to a new high of $570 trillion, driven by “paper” gains. Only 20 percent came from real capital formation, while valuations of existing assets grew four percentage points faster than already-high consumer price inflation. In the United States and Canada, equity values drove wealth growth. China, France, and Germany saw a drop in paper wealth as real estate prices declined. In the United Kingdom and Japan, inflation pushed up asset values.
• Major economies were on different pathways entering 2026. The United States has been in a “productivity acceleration” scenario, but high public debt and equities add the possibility of “sustained inflation” or “balance sheet reset.” Europe has gravitated toward “secular stagnation” as sluggish demand depresses growth and interest rates. China has experienced a partial balance sheet reset amid declining property values, although government spending and corporate investment have continued to propel balance sheet growth.
In this report, we provide an update on the global balance sheet in 2025, exploring to what extent its recent expansion, and by extension wealth growth, has been “in balance.” The analysis finds that wealth was, to an even greater extent than previously, rooted in asset values rising faster than real economy investment and growth, creating record levels of global wealth “on paper.”
Although many economies that were studied experienced wealth and balance sheet swings, the global picture was largely driven by its two biggest: the United States and China. Higher US equity values and the accumulation of China’s public and private debt brought some near-term economic benefits but left their economies more vulnerable to potential corrections.
Businesses use both income statements and balance sheets to develop a complete picture of their financial health. Analysts of the global economy tend to focus on the former. Since 2021, MGI has developed a “global balance sheet” to fill this gap, representing a clearer view into the world economy’s wealth and health.
Our previous reports found that from the mid-1990s to the COVID-19 pandemic, household wealth expanded faster than gross domestic product. Asset prices for real estate, equities, and bonds grew, as did debt and deposits. This occurred amid declining (and eventually rock-bottom) interest rates, rapidly expanding US profits, and a property boom in China. Productivity did not keep pace across advanced economies, nor did real wealth formation through net new investment.
When the balance sheet outruns the underlying economy, weaknesses can be exposed. When real estate and equity values rise faster than GDP, capital may disproportionately go to asset repurchases, sometimes with a lot of leverage. This may push up valuations but leave the economy deprived of the type of investment that generates long-run growth. For households, wealth rises but merely on paper, with heightened risks of eventual corrections. Growing asset values also tend to exacerbate wealth inequality, as existing owners of wealth see large gains while entering asset markets becomes harder for others (for example, young households trying to buy a home).
Elevated balance sheets may correct in one of three ways. A productivity acceleration scenario involves higher income supporting high asset values and debt; this is the most preferred outcome. A sustained inflation scenario brings down the real values of assets and debt, recalibrating the balance sheet with higher nominal GDP. But it can erode inflation-adjusted wealth along with other undesirable side effects. A balance sheet reset scenario, entailing a drop in asset values, deleveraging, and defaults, would shrink the balance sheet in absolute terms, with severe wealth losses and, often, lengthy periods of lost economic growth. Or the balance sheet may just stay high, particularly under secular-stagnation-like conditions of low investment and interest rates, as seen in the United States and Europe in the 2010s. That’s seemingly good for wealth, but at the cost of low growth and rising leverage.
Historically, most balance sheet corrections have taken place through higher inflation. Indeed, the inflation coming out of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States and Europe brought a correction in the balance sheet (and wealth) ratio to GDP. In China, a drop in property values drove a decline in wealth to GDP.
In 2025, global wealth reached a higher dollar value than ever before. But how “healthy” was this new growth? After postpandemic corrections, some balance sheet items have resumed expansion and reached new heights. This was particularly the case for US equity as AI fueled market optimism and corporate earnings continued to climb. Rising government debt relative to GDP remains a challenge in many economies amid higher interest rates. Stocks of currency and deposits remain high compared to longer-term historical norms. Altogether, this has culminated in even more wealth on paper than in the past several decades and raises the stakes for US corporate earnings to deliver.
Balance sheets, and macroeconomic factors like productivity and inflation, point to diverging trends across major economies. Recognizing the swing factors that can shift an economy to productivity acceleration is more urgent than ever: for the United States, corporate earnings and greater government saving (in other words, less borrowing); for Europe, greater investment; for China, higher domestic consumption.
Future global wealth and stability may depend on it…
[The report unpacks 0with lots of charts/data) the contents– the constituent elements– of the balance sheet, examines whether or not it is “in balance,” and considers whether the growth that it reflects has been “healthy.” (McKinsey worries that it has not been.) It concludes, addressing the executives who are McKinsey’s primary clients…]
… A balance sheet that is out of kilter with the economy—in other words, with high paper wealth fueled by debt and liquidity levels significantly above historical norms—can unwind via higher productivity, higher inflation, or asset price corrections. Balance sheets may also remain large, typically under secular-stagnation-like conditions, effectively kicking the can down the road for potential correction.
Each of these four scenarios shapes the long-term economic outlook. Only productivity acceleration delivers real economic growth justifying valuations, thus protecting wealth. The others sacrifice wealth, growth, or both. Sustained inflation reduces real values of wealth, secular stagnation sees low growth, and a balance sheet reset signals a loss of wealth and growth. Importantly for business leaders, two scenarios would likely mean structurally higher interest rates: Productivity acceleration would entail greater demand for capital amid higher business investment, while sustained inflation would likely involve central banks tightening policy rates and, ultimately, higher long-term yields.
All scenarios are possible for all major economies. However, they appear to be on different pathways, with different swing factors that could move them from one trajectory to another.
For executives, this means both preparing for an unusually broad array of economic pathways and carefully watching the swing factors, which rise above the noise of daily indicators (see sidebar “Business planning for all scenarios”). Leaders across sectors and industries could also explore ways to encourage the optimal outcome, the productivity acceleration scenario.
Major economies show significant divergence in trends across macro drivers of productivity, inflation, and interest rates, along with fundamental balance sheet components including real estate, equity, and debt.
The United States has seen a structural uptick in both productivity growth and interest rates relative to the prepandemic period. Productive investment, particularly driven by the tech sector, has recently grown. High equity values also signal market confidence, although they may pose some downside risks. Meanwhile, inflation remains above the Federal Reserve’s 2 percent target and government debt remains near all-time highs, adding further inflation risk.
The eurozone has experienced a return to secular-stagnation-like conditions, akin to the prepandemic period, amid flat productivity and higher saving. Europe’s balance sheets overall appear more in balance compared to the US balance sheet (with a few exceptions, such as Italy’s government debt). Productivity growth rates, however, are down across the region’s three largest economies (Germany, France, and Italy). Until recently, inflation was mostly trending toward the European Central Bank’s 2 percent target, although Europe is more exposed to energy price changes. Personal savings rates remain high amid a drop in aggregate demand and per capita household wealth has declined in PPP terms in Germany and France.3 Productive investment remains below prepandemic and global averages.
China continues to work through a partial balance sheet reset in the face of a continued decline in real estate, with questions about future growth drivers amid low household demand and a boom in corporate investment. Productivity growth has receded in recent years, although it remains above the rate in advanced economies. Inflation and, in tandem, nominal interest rates have dropped, and concerns have shifted to dealing with deflation risks. At a macro level, lower household property investment has been offset by higher corporate investment, especially among state-owned enterprises, and by government spending. This has coincided with a substantial rise in corporate and government debt, both reaching all-time highs.
While the United States is the only major economy showing signs of productivity acceleration, it is not guaranteed long term, and other economies have a potential path to it. Focusing on “swing factors” could help filter signal from noise in the daily flow of indicators, market fluctuations, and political headlines. These factors differ by economy.
In the United States, swing factors that could knock the economy out of productivity acceleration include the “fiscal tightrope” and corporate earnings.
- Government debt stands at about 120 percent of GDP. Combined with higher interest rates, this means more public spending will need to be directed toward debt repayment. Public spending could come under pressure, especially from bond investors, in the form of higher market interest rates. These translate into higher business costs of capital. If fiscal policy tightens too little, a public debt crisis or sustained inflation becomes more likely. Too much, and secular stagnation is a potential outcome. To bring budgets back into balance, greater fiscal saving (or lower borrowing) on the order of three percentage points of GDP would be needed.
- On the corporate-earnings side, an equity or wealth reset could be triggered by a large structural shift in the longer-term outlook—for example, from AI disappointment or large geopolitical disruption. Equities are at all-time highs, at 3.7 times GDP and 2.4 times net assets, and constitute nearly 40 percent of household wealth. A price correction could result in a sharp pullback in demand, ushering in an extended period of low growth. It is thus imperative that corporate earnings deliver on high expectations…
Eminently worth reading in full: “The global balance sheet 2026: Imbalance and divergence.”
See also: “World Economic Situation and Prospects 2026” from UNCTAD (the UN Trade and Development Organization), whose review of the global finacial situation resonates with McKinsey’s, but whose recommendations are targeted to global policy makers and development champions:
• Strengthen coordination across macroeconomic policies. Monetary policy alone cannot manage persistent price pressures. Better alignment between monetary, fiscal and industrial policies is essential to stabilise inflation, support investment and protect vulnerable groups.
• Use fiscal policy strategically and credibly. Targeted and temporary measures can help protect households from high prices and support social cohesion, while credible medium-term fiscal plans and prudent debt management are essential to rebuild fiscal space.
• Scale up multilateral cooperation and development finance. Implementing commitments under the Sevilla Commitment, including debt reform and expanded concessional and climate finance, is vital to closing investment gaps and reducing systemic risks.
• Reinforce an open, rules-based trading system. Strengthening transparency, predictability and cooperation in global trade remains central to sustaining growth and limiting fragmentation in an increasingly uncertain global economy.
And for a differently-flavored kind of accounting: “What the Big Mac index reveals about a global currency beef.”
* Catchphrase often used by financial and sports journalists to transition to statistics or financial data, e.g., on public radio’s wonderful Marketplace.
###
As we ponder the political economy, we might recall (hoping that history doesn’t repeat itself) that on this date in 1929, while the U.S. economy was already showing signs of strain (agricultural strains and a sagging consumer market), the U.S., its businesses, and its financial markets were still in the “Roaring Twenties.” Roughly three months later (on October 24, 1929, “Black Thursday,” and October 29, 1929, “Black Tuesday”) America– and the world– suffered the Wall Street crash of 1929 and began the slide into the Great Depression.
By this date in 1932, stocks had lost roughly 90% of the value they had had three years earlier. GDP in the U.S. had fallen 30%; GDP around the world was down 15%. International trade fell by more than 50%, and unemployment in some countries rose as high as 33% (peaking in 1933 at 25% in the U.S.).
Unemployed people lined up outside a soup kitchen opened in Chicago by Al Capone, February 1931 (source) #balanceSheet #BlackThursday #BlackTuesday #business #CrashOf1929 #culture #economics #economy #equity #finance #globalEconomy #GreatDepression #history #McKinseyGlobalInstitute #politics #RoaringTwenties #stockMarket #trade #UNCTAD -
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The Forty Days of Musa Dagh -- Franz Werfel
I read this 1933 novel a little while ago. It's a long, one might almost say sprawling, fiction of an Armenian community's 1915 resistance to the genocide enacted by the.Young Turks.
The narrative of a community under siege is gripping, but the novel also deals with complex themes of identity, community, and nationality. As one might expect from a German speaking Jew who grew up in the capital of the Czech lands of Austria-Hungary, Werfel's treatment of the themes of nationalism and cosmopolitanism are, thankfully, never simplistic.
Obviously , much of the book's significance rests on it being an early literary response to the Armenian genocide. I'm sure that a horrified desire to learn about this campaign of persecution, exile, and killing accounts for much of the success that this book achieved in the US market on its publication in 1934. A readiness to learn about a gruesome episode in the "war to end all wars" probably played a part too in boosting sales.
I would also hazard a guess that for many readers in the thirties, the novel's story of a community's survival, albeit at a terrible price, could be seen as a parallel for the survival by individuals,families, and cities of the unprecedented hardships and upheavals of the Great Depression. The success of "Gone With The Wind" comes to mind.
Another parallel that now seems eerily prescient is that of...
#Books #Fiction #Novels #FortyDaysOfMusaDagh #FranzWerfel #LiteratureInGerman #ArmenianGenocide #20thCenturyLiterature #1930s #GreatDepression
-
🧵 1/3
The Forty Days of Musa Dagh -- Franz Werfel
I read this 1933 novel a little while ago. It's a long, one might almost say sprawling, fiction of an Armenian community's 1915 resistance to the genocide enacted by the.Young Turks.
The narrative of a community under siege is gripping, but the novel also deals with complex themes of identity, community, and nationality. As one might expect from a German speaking Jew who grew up in the capital of the Czech lands of Austria-Hungary, Werfel's treatment of the themes of nationalism and cosmopolitanism are, thankfully, never simplistic.
Obviously , much of the book's significance rests on it being an early literary response to the Armenian genocide. I'm sure that a horrified desire to learn about this campaign of persecution, exile, and killing accounts for much of the success that this book achieved in the US market on its publication in 1934. A readiness to learn about a gruesome episode in the "war to end all wars" probably played a part too in boosting sales.
I would also hazard a guess that for many readers in the thirties, the novel's story of a community's survival, albeit at a terrible price, could be seen as a parallel for the survival by individuals,families, and cities of the unprecedented hardships and upheavals of the Great Depression. The success of "Gone With The Wind" comes to mind.
Another parallel that now seems eerily prescient is that of...
#Books #Fiction #Novels #FortyDaysOfMusaDagh #FranzWerfel #LiteratureInGerman #ArmenianGenocide #20thCenturyLiterature #1930s #GreatDepression
-
In 100 years, what will people remember of our time?
Think back, what stands out
#WWI. #GreatDepression. Of course there's other stories. These stand out
In 100 years, people will not immediately think #COVID. Or #Trump
They will think #Ukraine
Recognize the most stirring story of our time
Ukraine faced down formidable mass murdering ethnofascist madness
And won
"It’s the new reality. There is no major #oilRefinery left in #Russia that has not been struck by Ukraine"
-
In 100 years, what will people remember of our time?
Think back, what stands out
#WWI. #GreatDepression. Of course there's other stories. These stand out
In 100 years, people will not immediately think #COVID. Or #Trump
They will think #Ukraine
Recognize the most stirring story of our time
Ukraine faced down formidable mass murdering ethnofascist madness
And won
"It’s the new reality. There is no major #oilRefinery left in #Russia that has not been struck by Ukraine"
-
People share the frugal habits they learned from relatives who lived through the Great Depression
-
Backfiring propaganda
https://piefed.social/c/historymemes/p/2174683/backfiring-propaganda
-
Backfiring propaganda
https://piefed.social/c/tankiejerk/p/2174680/backfiring-propaganda
-
Openly queer jazz singer Gladys Bentley (left) and jazz band leader Willie Bryant (right), USA, 1936
-
Openly queer jazz singer Gladys Bentley (left) and jazz band leader Willie Bryant (right), USA, 1936
-
#History #American #Horses #Mano’War #GreatDepression #Symbol #Democracy #Hope #Video #alt
HEATHER COX RICHARDSON
250 WE ARE AMERICANS 1 minute video
MAN O’WAR -NARRATED BY GOVERNOR ANY BESHEAR
A GREAT DEPRESSION SYMBOL OF HOPE -
#History #American #Horses #Mano’War #GreatDepression #Symbol #Democracy #Hope #Video #alt
HEATHER COX RICHARDSON
250 WE ARE AMERICANS 1 minute video
MAN O’WAR -NARRATED BY GOVERNOR ANY BESHEAR
A GREAT DEPRESSION SYMBOL OF HOPE -
🧵 1/2
https://blanton.emuseum.com/objects/14537/dance-marathon
Although subtlety is not one of the virtues of Philip Evergood's 1934 "Dance Marathon", viewers today might well require an explanation of what dance marathons were in order to understand the picture.
Once the subject is clarified, the picture provides an excellent starting point for thinking about art and the Great Depression and the possibilities and problems of "political" art then and now.
"Dance Marathon" also offers a way into some important literature of the twenties and thirties, since a dance marathon is central to hardboiled writer Horace McCoy's 1935 novel "They Shoot Horses, Don't They?".
#DanceMarathon #PhilipEvergood #Art #USArt #AmericanArt #20thCenturyArt #1930s #GreatDepression #HoraceMcCoy #TheyShootHorsesDontThey #SocialRealism
-
🧵 1/2
https://blanton.emuseum.com/objects/14537/dance-marathon
Although subtlety is not one of the virtues of Philip Evergood's 1934 "Dance Marathon", viewers today might well require an explanation of what dance marathons were in order to understand the picture.
Once the subject is clarified, the picture provides an excellent starting point for thinking about art and the Great Depression and the possibilities and problems of "political" art then and now.
"Dance Marathon" also offers a way into some important literature of the twenties and thirties, since a dance marathon is central to hardboiled writer Horace McCoy's 1935 novel "They Shoot Horses, Don't They?".
#DanceMarathon #PhilipEvergood #Art #USArt #AmericanArt #20thCenturyArt #1930s #GreatDepression #HoraceMcCoy #TheyShootHorsesDontThey #SocialRealism
-
#History #Iowa #GreatDepression #Bricks
I’m aiming to make a post in my blog before the month is over. Possible titles are:
“And the Brick Played On”
or
“The Brick Abides”Specifically, this brick (and about 160 more just like it):
