The Correlation Between The Great Depression, And The Depression Of The Millennium

It has often been said that history has a tendency to repeat itself. This has most often been thematic with the state of our nation's economy. As with any other aspect of the nation, there are apparent parallels in two specific time periods of the American economy that resemble one another greatly. The correlation between the effects that led up to the Great Depression of the 1930's and the new Millennium's economic slump are uncanny. These correspondent factors are proof that American economics have repeated their patterns since the inception of the nation, with no signs of ceasing.

While the Great Depression was an example of turmoil and economic disparity for nearly an entire decade following the "roaring twenties," the Dot-Com failure of the new Millennium was similarly overwhelming in effects. Without fail, the United States has hit a recession every few decades, and thus was the case in the late 1990's to early 2000's fiasco. Although, the Great Depression in the 1930's has often times sparked debate as to its causes; there are a number of sound causes that correlate directly to the Millennium slump. From war reparations, lavish lifestyles, pools/speculation of the stock market, manipulation of the market and the rapid ballooning of the economy, emerge the similarities between the two economic slumps.

One can first begin with analyzing the relationship of the war reparations in the twenties, to that of the nineties. The World Community had suffered greatly, both in the cases of retaliatory tariffs, as well as the war debts of European countries following War World I. Much like in that time period, the United States' belief that it was self-sustaining, and could sustain the economies of all war ravaged countries, inevitably hurt the American Economy. Such ideologies are precisely what affected the economy during the nineties. Upon the completion of the first Gulf War, Iraq accepted UN Security Council resolution 687, which declared Iraq financially liable for damage caused in its invasion of Kuwait. The United Nations Compensation Commission (UNCC) was established, and United States' $350 billion in claims were filed by governments, corporations, and individuals. Funds for these payments were to come from a 30% share of Iraq's oil revenues from the "oil for food" program. This program was designed in 1996, to bring in basic necessities such as food and medicine for the citizens in Iraq, in exchange for oil trade. It was never anticipated that the United States' $350 billion would ever become available for total payment of all reparations claims, so several schedules of prioritization were created over the years. The lack of payment inevitably became a factor that led to the depression of the Millennium.

Much of the desires triggered by the "Roaring Twenties" trend were getting rich quick, living extravagantly, and outside one's mean. Many of those seeking out a luxurious style of living also sought out the new streamlined technology available in that day and age (ie. Transistor radios). Such was the case in the nineties. The phenomena referred to as "Dot-com" era, was spurred by the growing potential of the internet as an innovative method of business. Much like the twenties, it presented a style of business for the new venture capitalist Ð'- seeking ground-breaking ways to spur the growth of their business. Due to low interest rates and the increase of startup capital amounts, the Dot-Com concept was created during the mid-to-late nineties, and with it brought Generation X, the generation that would yield to great extravagances, very similar to the lavish wants of the "Roaring Twenties Generation"

The business model behind this new concept relied on network effects. In many cases, products were given away to build a market share of the new business. These companies operated at a loss, believing that through promotion, they would later gain a loyal clientele and would be able to charge for their services respectively. From this notion, money was raised though public offerings on stock exchanges, with stock often soaring. This was due to the mentality