Another Great Depression?

The stock market's closing in June officially brought an end to a rare and destructive second quarter. According to USA Today, the loss in June, a 10.2 percent loss, was the worst since the Great Depression. Their records indicated a total drop of $1.4 trillion in June... just June.

All together, though, the total loss in amounted to $2.1 trillion.

Just look around, though and a basic reason is painful to everyone who drives. When my brother, who is six years my senior, started driving, I remember gas prices being just 98 cents a gallon. Phew... and I just turned 20 a few weeks ago...

It's easy to see why the economy is hurting on a basic level. Even two summers ago, my friends and I could do anything we wanted on a whim, but now I've become someone who has to look at their bank account and wonder if just going out kayaking down a creek is affordable. Gas, even in my 5-speed manual Civic is still burning my wallet with full tanks around $40 or so. I can't even imagine how it is with people who drive those Escalades or whatever... but then again maybe gas prices aren't too much of an object to them.

On top of that though, I've been noticing a lot of the economic "stimulus" checks... well I've been noticing their absence, I guess would be the most accurate thing to say. One of my friends who started working straight out of high school (his senior year, actually) hasn't received his check. Not only that, the company he was working for was bought out and so he was basically thrown out. His unemployment check still has yet to come, too.

It's going to be a little hard to live on $200 and an unemployment check that's tied up somewhere in the U.S. Mail system.

The New York Times Web site's front page has a very interesting article that outlines a rather "miserable" outcome for automakers by the end of June. Sales were down in percentages in the double digits for Ford, Toyota, GM, and Nissan. Think about that - really. Gas prices are hurting the manufacturers which hurts the factories that assemble the parts (like fans and such) and if those factory workers have no money, they can't buy things which, in turn, hurts the economy even more. That's really the basic gist of it and so you can really see how powerful gas prices are (they don't just hurt us personally, but as a whole, it really wrecks ya!)

I'm not necessarily preparing to live in a Hooverville (yet) but I'm being tight with my money. I'm not an expert in the economy by ANY means, which means no "You have no right to assess our economy!" comments, s'il vous plait. However, I know when I see dealerships offering every car on the lot at the price the employees get them, that something is up. The upwards fashion of gas prices also is a pretty good sign that... oil prices are going up.

So just as a warning to all of your lavish spenders out there. Watch for price/barrel with oil and if that doesn't get better, our situation might just get worse and worse until I actually am in a shantytown, writing for AC and hopefully winning the sticker placement contest so I can at least pay for wireless internet!