Great Depression, What Was Life Actually Like

If you turn on the news today, it's nothing but pandemic confusion and coronavirus fears spreading across the globe. It seems like another Great Depression could be right around the corner. But if we compare ourselves to the Great Depression of 1929, how bad off are we? In today's amazing video we're going back to a very scary time in history to show you what life was really like during the 1929 Great Depression.

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All videos are based on publicly available information unless otherwise noted.

[Raymondjohn]

I used to think everybody went broke during the Great Depression and other major crashes but they didn’t… Some made millions, I also thought everybody went out of business during these times but they didn’t, some went into business, there's always depression/recession for some people and there's always a good time for others, it's all about perspective.

[willr]

The great depression is why a lot of our elderly hoard. Its engrained into them, they had so little that everything held some kind of value.

[leenasfar]

isnt it crazy that some kids in 2050 are going to fail their history exams over what we are going through right now

[sortablesoap]

My great grandmother hid money all over her house after the Great Depression. My family still finds it in very creative places, such as family heirlooms, in the walls of her old house, and even a rusty can buried in her backyard.

[hshambaugh]

My grandpa would never eat potatoes cause that’s what they lived on during the depression.

[LMSPetRescue]

My great grandma finally opened up about growing up during the Great Depression, apparently many of her friends fathers lost everything (her family did too but) and ended up throwing themselves off the local bridge. She was 8 at the time and was walking to the store with her parents and she watched as her best friend’s father stopped on the bridge, climbed over the rail and her dad ran ahead to try to stop him but couldn’t and she just watched him drop. It was an already small poor town and when people couldn’t afford to even feed their children one meal and many of the men there were too proud to ask for help so chose to lull themselves rather than set aside their pride

[magsvots]

The roaring 20’s didn’t repeat itself this year but the economy crash did

[JeremyB]

I had to do a report in grade school on the great depression and interview a survivor, so I interviewed my grandfather. He said they noticed no difference, because they lived in rural America, were poor before the depression, poor during the depression, and poor after the depression. I imagine the current pandemic is similar: if you already barely interacted with people, had a basic job, and spent most your free time at home or in nature prior to the pandemic, the change in your life during the pandemic would be very small compared to individuals living in major metropolitan areas.

[johnnysilvercloud]

I'm so glad you pointed out the black experience during the Great Depression. No one ever does this.

[Nikki_]

My family was so poor back then that The Great Depression didn’t effect them. I guess they were lucky.

[personperson]

Great Depression Part 2 _“The Quarantine”_

[oneillbilder]

Preparing for the Impending Great Depression: Strategies for Thriving During The Great Reset. Wondering about the right timing for stock investments? Curious about the timeline for a complete economic recovery? Puzzled about how some individuals are generating over $450k in profits within months in the current market scenario? These questions have left me perplexed.

[thatguyontheright]

I remember listening to my grandpa talk about the great depression, he lived through it in the rural midwest.

He said if you were a black woman, it was easier for you to get a job because maids and nannies were still in demand. Also, you ate anything you could. Cats, dogs, etc. My grandpa told me a story about how he went to bed one night after putting the horse in the barn, when he woke up, no horse but there was meat on the table.

[MikeBaxterABC]

My Irish born great grandfather lived through the Depresion in Toronto, Canada, and he said as long as you had a job and Whiskey it was not so bad. He built new houses and rented them out as his job. Land, building materials and labour were all dirt cheap.

[MartyD]

At least the liquor stores are deemed essential.

[edwardbeaty]

My late parents and grandparents lived through the Depression. Since they lived in rural Missouri they say it didn't hit here nearly as hard as it did a lot of places. My grandfather was a Railroad engineer so his job was pretty secure, my parents were toddlers, and most of the extended family were farmers so they pretty much had enough to eat and the like. I know that it was pretty bad in a lot of other places.

[nab-rkob]

My mom is in her nineties and lived through the Great Depression. She grew up in Hartford, CT, with one brother and four or five sisters. Her dad had a job as a crane operator with the electric company and her mother died when she was two. She was fostered out until she was ten. She said when she came back home her family was better off than most. All the girls slept together in one room. The only heat in the apartment was from the stove and you left the stove door open to heat the house.

[khrashingphantom]

For those in the
U.S saying "We're in another Great Depression!" Stop. While we are currently living in more difficult times the fact that people even have food to eat or houses to be quarantined in (and complain about) is a blessing. Now I will say that if things don't shape up in how wealth and employment distribution occurs were could be headed for another Great Depression the same way we saw all those years ago. The hardest part is literally see some of the exact same conditions play out the same way that lead to the Great Depression and our elected official doing the bare minimal to address it if anything at all. And for those who are homeless and hungry we should continue to band together to help them in general, but especially now. Stay safe everyone.

[paulnash]

My grandpa hates raisins, because his mom made raisin pies for him and his siblings because they couldn’t afford blueberries.

[jdcunnington]

Imagine 2009 without stimulus, welfare, and unemployment. If you wanted it, you had to sign up for a paramilitary camp 6 months at a time, 18 month limit, and go live in a camp who knows where. My wife's uncle was from Mauston, WI. He ended up doing some forestry work on the Apostle Islands for one stint, then worked on the Honey Creek and Menomonee River stonework in Wauwatosa, WI, starting right about 84th St at I-94, and proceeding north until Honey Creek hit the Menomonee River, and then along the Menomonee River through Hart Park. That stone work stands today. Oh, and they sent 90% of your money home. You slept in a barracks and ate in the mess hall. It was very regimented in the CCC.