Dr. Martin Hash Podcast

Since money is imaginary and can be produced as needed, poor financial metrics are not the best definition of a “depression.” It’s also difficult to get out of the mindset that a depression should have soup lines, but those have been replaced by Welfare checks. Another traditional indicator of a depression is how many people aren't working, now 37%, over a third of the population; approximately the same percent of as during depressions of the past, but again, imaginary money masks that indicator too.

The biggest sign that a country is in a depression is when it begins to flirt with Collectivism; when ambition is unrewarded and motivation is lacking. Collectivism surges when people think they can do better by redistributing wealth than they can by creating wealth of their own. If anything, the populist attraction to egalitarianism, the basis of Marxism, is bigger now than during The Great Depression. A depression also fosters extreme partisanship, wealth concentration, and unreliable news sources; all of which we are experiencing right now. But the most telling indicator is the general lack of optimism; the less optimism, the deeper the depression. However, it’s interesting how Tent cities seem to be an established fixture of depression, no matter the age.