I didn’t do well in economics and I don’t claim to know much about abstractions like “the economy,” but I do know how to read a newspaper.
People have been trying to find the right words for what’s going in America today: slowdown, recession, depression.
When people line up outside their bank, praying that they will be able to withdraw their money, we’re in a depression bind. No, it’s nothing like 1929. Not yet. During the Great Depression one third of American adults were out of work. I can’t quite imagine that scenario in today’s America, where everyone is armed to the teeth and our sense of community is badly frayed.
[UPDATE] According to The Wall Street Journal, the FDIC typically insures as much as $100,000 per depositor, but nearly $1 billion of IndyMac’s (whose customers are pictured above) roughly $19 billion in deposits was uninsured, affecting about 10,000 people, according to the FDIC. Officials have said they would be able to make 50% of customers’ uninsured funds available.
