Dream Your Unemployment Troubles Away

Seems like lately, that a lot of talk has been flying around, comparing the economic events of today, to the troubled decade of the 1930s. That got me to thinking about the forms of escapism many turned to during the thirties, and how we might learn some lessons from them.

That decade opened with almost three million people out of work and two years later, it had escalated to more than ten million unemployed (1 in 4). No wonder people looked for any way they could escape reality.

Last month, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that we currently have 10.3 million people unemployed and 6.7 million under employed.

The breakdown of those figures further reveals that:

• 6.5% were males
• 5.5% were women
• 20.4% were teenagers
• 6.1% were whites
• 11.2% were blacks
• 8.6% were Hispanic

These figures didn’t count some significant numbers of the unemployed:

• 1.9 million who were out of work seasonally
• Those whose unemployment have run out
• Those who have stopped looking for work
• Those who are ill, out on strike, or out of work for personal reasons (quit)

Furthermore, the biggest numbers that the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ report doesn’t spell out -- is that these figures are just a hit and miss “sampling” of the number unemployed. It’s only a random sampling of 60,000 households. It's sort of like the headcounts, Fish and Game officials make, when sampling the number of wildlife in a given area.

The difference is -- Fish and Game doesn’t eliminate the wildlife who are out of season, run out, starving, ill, laying down on the job of looking for food, or quit foraging for personal reasons. Or, at least the agency doesn't tell on itself in it's reports when it does.

First, let’s hope in the face of all that’s happening economically world wide, that our President Elect, Barack Obama, doesn’t repeat history by naively making some dumb predictions, like President Hoover did back in the 1930s. We wouldn't want "Obamaisms" to enter our language, like "Hooverisms" did.

President Hoover no doubt wanted to forget about the whole mess, just like everyone else did back then. He had a lot of good reasons to want to escape, since he signed the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Bill (creating the highest import duties in American history and speeding the break down of international trade).

Then, he compounded that error by intervening in markets, rather than suffer them. He added, further to the country's problems as creditors were urged not to foreclose on overdue debts, short sellers were told not to pound common stocks, and lenders, were pretty much ordered not to say no. His big plan was to stall for time, while seeking an eleventh hour "save" that would restore prosperity.

It wasn't all solely his fault, since the Federal Reserve Act in 1913, had set the stage for extending credit to banks even if they had no "eligible paper" in their vaults. Nothing like borrowing and printing more useless paper to solve your problems. Naturally, banks were failing at a record rate.

We'd certainly all like to forget about what's happening now too. President Hoover probably had one right idea, that people should think positively and move forward. However, he got off on the wrong foot, when he declared:

"What our country needs is a good big laugh. If someone could get off a good joke every ten days, I think our troubles would be over."

When you've lost your job, lost your home, banks are failing, businesses are closing, and you are down to your last dime -- you don't have the same sense of humor you might ordinarily have. Americans wanted solutions and leadership from their president, not a jokester and a progressive. Turns out what jokes were made, were on him, as his presidency slipped into ruin.

President Hoover also made the mistake of predicting that prosperity would return within two months. I'm thinking, President Obama should stay away from such impossible time tables too. Both Washington and the news media can be very unforgiving, and will pounce on such a thing, like a pack of wild coyotes on fresh meat.

By 1932, Herbert Hoover had had enough, and so had the beleaguered public. He did take great offense to allegations by Franklin Roosevelt -- that he was “personally responsible for the Depression.”

President Hoover made a half-hearted party loyal re-election run against FDR, but he was often heckled and pelted with rotten eggs at rallies and speeches. Some people were so incensed by the economic times, that more drastic attempts were made on his life before it was all over. In the end, it was said, "he was the most hated President ever to serve in that office."

Now, I can't see where placing blame is going to do any of us any real good. Most of us know the score, and there are a lot of public figures and business entities, we could point the flaming blame finger in the direction of. I was thinking more along the lines, about what those hard times gave us back in the 1930s, and how people coped with the stresses as we worked for recovery.

Maybe, while the powers-to-be, duke this out, the rest of us should consider digging deeper and re-discover or create, some escapisms of our own. It'd be hard to top that of the 1930s. There's a lot to be said for escapisms, since without it -- stress kills.

In the 1930s, instant entertainment like television, the Internet, wii games, etc. didn't exist. With a nation in the thoes of poverty, people resorted to making their own amusement. This was the Golden Age of Radio, and with it came jive talk, the jukebox, goldfish swallowing, spin-off crazes, dance crazes, and most important -- movies, were just but a few of the diversions of the era.

These were also the days of absolute passion when it came to pinball machines and miniature golf.  However, that's another hub in itself.

Despite the Depression, sales of books totaled $22 million, just in 1933. Americans were actually reading more, and going to libraries. Library circulation jumped forty percent, and over four million people became library patrons. Millions of new avid readers were created by the Depression. The reading list of the 1930s, more than escapism -- also gave hope back to people.

Here are some of the best selling title lists of the time:

• Gone with the Wind
• How to Win Friends and Influence People
• You Must Relax
• Take It Easy
• Wake Up and Live
• Live Alone and Like It
• The Good Earth
• Anthony Adverse
• Of Time and the River
• The Yearling
• The Grapes of Wrath
• Cup of Gold
• Pasture of Heaven
• Tortilla Flat
• In Dubious Battle
• Of Mice and Men
• How to Stop Worrying

No wonder so many people took to reading, some of the finest American literature was being churned out at the time. Beyond that, this was the era of movie star pin-up magazines, and the birth of the popularity of the all-American favorite, The Reader's Digest.

The only sour note, and a very sour one, was the 1939 release of the full text English translation of Mein Kampf. It's unfortunate that not enough people took it seriously, or read it -- or maybe Hitler's "My Struggle" could have forewarned us, to not make his "struggle" the world's.

Songs like, Dancing with Tears in My Eyes, But Not for Me, and Time on My Hands, Brother Can You Spare a Dime -- certainly appealed to those feeling the squeeze of the Depression. Many wonderful love songs and inspirational songs (even hymns) were written during this time period.

Another bunch of good things that came out of this decade, were radio comedy shows, comedy movies, and depression humor. Fibber McGee and Molly, The Goldbergs, the Charlie McCarthy Show, Little Orphan Annie, Tom Mix -- were also all popular radio shows of the time. These were also the days of:

• The Shadow
• The Inner Sanctum Mysteries
• The Lone Ranger
• Mercury Theatre and War of the Worlds

Seems like hard times were inspiring some of the most creative minds back then. Which leads me to think about the what-if part of the unemployment equation -----

What if being unemployed, as much as it sucks, meant some Americans in their unexpected, unplanned, unwanted spare time (while looking for a job), found within themselves the talents and creativity they already possessed, and they actually figured out what to do with it? Spare time, might be better and worth more in the long run, than a spare dime.