Been through a couple of recessions. Have been at a couple of companies where an IT department shrank from hundreds to turn off the lights on your way out. We will all survive. Until the next bubble starts. What angers me more than anything is the blame game. Frankly what drove the stagflation of the 70s was the Arab Oil embargo because the oil producers were mad at US foreign policy. When China gets Covid under control and the price of oil stabilizes, we will be OK. It will take years to wean ourselves off Russian oil and gas though.
I do not discount those who lost their jobs and never recovered. I personally know several middle aged men who lost all hope. I, nevertheless, believe that America is a great country and as a country we will all survive. Can we do better? Yes, we can.
The issue of economic boom and bust and the effect on people's lives, at its heart, I believe is a philosophical one. If you view it from the perspective economic libertarianism where government regulation is evil -- boom and bust cycles occur frequently. If you view it from the perspective of social justice and equality where government oversight of business is a necessary evil -- boom and bust cycles occur less frequently.
Saying you don't discount it isn't the same as not discounting it. Are we all going to survive, or aren't we? If we aren't then I don't think you should say it!
It's like those signs we saw so much of in the first covid year "we'll all get through this together." Well, a million of us didn't, did they not count as "us?"
I don't know your politics here and I'm not trying to pick an ideological fight. I just wish it was more routine for people to acknowledge the actual human costs of large scale events. Keeping hope alive is necessary, but a recession will kill people, so "at least no one will die" can't be the hope you provide here.
