10 Lessons From People Who Lived Through The Depression

It isn't difficult to see shades of the Great Depression in the Great Recession, and in today's volatile economy. High unemployment, staggering debt, and stocks that, well, see the August 10th cover of The New York Post, who put it best.

Still, the hardship of the late 1920s and the 1930s has yet to be replicated on such a grand scale. The 25% unemployment rate was a reality back then. But corners were cut, ends were met, and the generation that lived through it still stands as a testament to getting past tough times.

Some of the men and women of the Great Depression are still around today, and perhaps it's time to turn to them for inspiration.

Here's a list of 10 ideas that were formed during that era that may help us recover, as well as remind us that, hey, it could be worse.

If you've got it, use it

Image: Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, FSA-OWI Collection

Wanda Bridgeforth was hit hardest on the home front as a child, when her parents couldn't afford to keep her with them. At one point she lived with 19 people—in a six room house. It was in these situations that she learned to conserve what she had, and reuse what she found.

"And they say, 'Well, what are you going to use this for?' and I say, 'I don't know, but I'm going to use it,'" Bridgeforth told NPR.

Today, individuals and companies would be wise to heed this advice. We can find resources in unlikely places, whether in the the scrap heap or the ideas of the unpaid college intern.

Review the facts

Image: Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, FSA-OWI Collection

While some figures put the number of people unemployed as even higher than the numbers during the Great Depression, the widespread feeling of despair—not to mention the sheer numbers of actual starvation, poverty, and unemployment—was much higher during the 1920s and 30s than during the aughts.

1929 to 1932 saw a 50 percent drop in national income, and in 1933, almost 25 percent of the work force was unemployed. There were food shortages to go along with thousands of people filing for bankruptcy. Today's numbers, frankly, speak more to recession than depression. (more)