A year to remember, but not to relive

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Perhaps worried that the rest of us might enjoy the holiday season a little too much, a number of the gloomier commentators are comparing 2008 with 1932, the worst year economically since the Indians and the Pilgrims shared that first thanksgiving dinner in a brief spirit of amity 387 years ago.And there are superficial similarities. The economy is in dire straits. Financial institutions are failing. Unemployment is rising. The stock market is falling. And a new and different kind of president-elect waits in the wings promising decisive change.Times may be tough now, but in 1932 things were really grim and, unlike today, there were no institutions to cope with them.In 1932, the U.S. economy was in free fall. Industrial production had fallen by two-thirds and GDP by half from their 1929 highs. The Dow Jones Average fell that summer to 41 from its pre-Crash high of 381. The Dow Jones closed Friday at 8046, down 43 percent from its record high last year -- not good, but not a 1932-style wipeout either.Unemployment today is just over 6 percent; in 1932, it was over 24 percent, 16 million people were out of work and 34 million had no income at all. Those lucky enough to have a job were paid an average of $16 a week. And businesses were still slashing salaries.As today, the auto industry was a sort of bellwether. Sales of automobiles fell from 5 million in 1928 to 1 million in 1932. In other sectors of the economy, over 1,600 banks failed and 20,000 businesses closed their doors.The government ordered a halt to home foreclosures. In a sad little chapter of our history, a group of World War I veterans, many with their families in tow, camped out in Washington, believing a grateful government would award them a bonus to get through the Depression. Instead, President Herbert Hoover ordered the Army to evict them.Franklin Roosevelt's campaign song was "Happy Days Are Here Again." It proved woefully premature. The Japanese had invaded China and in Germany the Nazi Party took a plurality of seats in the Reichstag. In a sense, World War II had begun. We just didn't know it.We have many blessings to be thankful for this Thanksgiving Day, and one of them, most assuredly, is that 2008 is not 1932.(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, http://www.scrippsnews.com)