I was born in 1948 after World War II like most baby boomers were after the war and we were all cautioned about the next Great Depression because my parents and grandparents expected another one. They just didn't know when but figured it would happen sometime in the baby boomers generation of being alive and it finally has.
Though it is still called "The Great Recession" rather than the 2nd Great Depression, in time it might be called the 2nd Great Depression or something like that 25 to 50 years from now.
The problems during the first great depression were 25% to 50% unemployment depending upon where people lived in the U.S. and people going homeless or living in their vehicles all over the U.S. just like now.
However, what is different about this one is that the unemployment is not that bad this time. This time, instead of banks going bankrupt there is FDIC which insures any one person's accounts in any banking system up to 250,000 dollars which will help most people in this way. So people don't have to hide their cash in mattresses or bury them in the yard like they used to. (My grandfather buried $25,000 in his yard under his lawn for example in a coffee tin.)
This time it is cities going bankrupt which creates even worse social problems nationwide where fires don't get put out, police aren't paid and don't protect citizens, teachers aren't paid, and public works employees aren't paid and so either do their jobs without pay or they don't. This creates in some ways a situation that is even worse than the Great Depression for the poor and lower middle class throughout the U.S.
Because this means that fire, police, teachers and civil servants of all kinds might not be there to take care of anyone. Also, if cities keep going bankrupt like they are it will tend to also dry up people wanting to invest in tax free municipal bonds if they aren't guaranteed at least getting their principal back whether they actually make tax free interest on their principal or not.
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