Downturn is nothing like Great Depression as the Vancouver Sun reminds us.  Canadians are ‘light years’ away from the misery of the 1930s according to many observers.

H. Blair Neatby, Professor Emeritus in the History Department at Carleton University, knows what hardship is. He grew up during the Great Depression in Saskatchewan.  He acknowledges the current recession is hurting many Canadians. But he also says today’s economic troubles are nothing compared to the severe insecurity and adversity faced by Canadians during the Great Depression.

That is an opinion shared by McGill University economist William Watson, writing in the February issue of Policy Options magazine. He says likening our current woes to the Dirty Thirties trivializes the hardships of our parents and grandparents who lived through both it and the war.  “Nothing awaiting us in 2009 is likely to rival either the 1930s when the unemployment rate rose to I in 3 or [the] blitzkrieg,” he said.  (Link to PDF version of article)

Even though the current recession may deliver knocks of somewhat lesser impact than the Great Depression, it can still be a school for useful lessons.  Blair Neatby hopes that the recession may teach younger Canadians growing up in an age of debt and leverage, a simple lesson about the value of saving.

As he said, “People like me came home from the war and became a generation of savers.  And we looked with some concern at our children and grandchildren who didn’t seem to be as concerned with the importance of saving. They hadn’t lived, as we had, through a time of great insecurity.”

Saving so as to have reserves and choices during hard times is timeless advice that is always right.  Hopefully these lessons on saving from the past will not be lost on all as they now struggle during these difficult times.

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