One of my students sent me this interesting graphic that suggests we’re getting there.

This graph suggests that our stock market losses are equivalent to the losses during the great depression for the same time period.  Granted, this represents only one data point. Here’s another:

Nearly one in five own more than homes are worth – Time Magazine.

There is plenty of counter-data to suggest that we’re in a slowdown.  Unemployment is “only” 9.1 percent, a far cry from the 25% unemployment during the peak of the great depression.  I’m more interested in the question of how and when we construct a depression. Rahm Emmanuel has achieved conservative blog infamy for saying “Never let a serious crisis go to waste.”  Indeed, the Obama administration has initiated an agressive policy agenda (education, health care, environment, budget, bank bailout, housing, etc.)   The policy might fit the times, but Emannuel’s sentiment  reflects the investment an activist government has in constructing a depression.  An increasing amount of data suggests that “if the construction fits, wear it.”