What would a 21st Century Economic Depression look and feel like?

The Boston Globe has an interesting article discussing what a economic depression would look like in 2009. For most of us, we've only heard stories or seen pictures of the Great Depression. My father was born during the depression (1935) on a farm in Nebraska. His mother and father (my grandparents) were hit especially hard by the economic downturn of the 1930s and never really ever got over it. My grandparents house had a fully stocked kitchen because they never wanted to go hungry again. My grandmother would also stocked up on shoes, because she often went without shoes as a child and during other hard economic times and vowed to never go with out shoes again in her life. When my grandmother passed away earlier this year, my father found boxes upon boxes of brand new shoes through out her house. My father also tends to stock up on certain items, but not to the extent that my grandmother did.

Family stories and the Globe article got me wondering about how will Americans react if a true economic depression were to happen. Bennett suggests that while we might not see long soup lines or an people jumping from buildings, we will probably see an increase in lines at the ER, more people will stay home and watch tv (leading to a television boom), emptying suburbs, and people will shop more at Walmart and Target.

Prehaps the most interesting result of a 21st century economic depression would be the "desurburbanzation" of America. If home prices continue to sink, homeownership will become less appealing and individuals may find living in the city and better economic investment because commuting costs are cheaper and access to services would be greater. While this would benefit some cities, urban places like Detroit could just disappear.

While the numbers that will likely come out in the coming year regarding poverty, use of government programs such as food stamps, unemployment and so on, will provide further evidence of declining American economy, it will be interesting to see how generations of Americans who have never experienced a depression will react. Do we know how to tighten our belts and how to live with less? Will families take to gardening again and learn to live all together? Only time will tell.

AIDS and Washington, DC

Washington, DC with a population just over a half a million residents, has one of the highest HIV/AIDS rates in the United States. One in 20 DC residents are HIV positive and the rate of new AIDS cases is 128.4 per 100,000 people, compared to the national average of 13.7 per 100,000 people.

For men in DC, the most common way HIV is spread is through unprotected sex followed by intravenous drug use. For women, sharing needles is the most common mode of HIV transmission. It was only recently that the District was allowed to use federal money to spend on needle exchange programs in hopes of preventing the spread of HIV. Prevention Works provides needle exchange and health services to DC residents.

Even with the amazing advances in research and eduction, HIV/AIDS is still a major health epidemic, particularly in poor minority communities like those in DC. On November 20, activists gathered in DC to demand (and support) that Presidential-elect Obama keep his promise to fight AIDS here in the U.S. and aboard. I was lucky enough to attend the event and march to the White House. Members of Philadelphia ACT UP and NYC AIDS Housing Network then met with members of Obama's transition team. Here's HOPING to a president who will create a real national AIDS strategy and a real national health care system.

Well, I guess this why I am happy!

I recently decided to do away with television. Well, I actually kept my tv, but just use it to watch movies and It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia. It was one of the best decisions I ever made. The cost was too much, I am not home enough to watch tv and it gets me out of office talk about last night's episode of Dancing with The Stars.

Well, it turns out that happy people watch less tv and spend more time socializing and going out...this according to researchers at the University of Maryland. While the direction of the relationship is unclear (do people watch tv because they are unhappy or do does tv make people unhappy) I support the idea of less television and more television covers.

What Happy People Don't Do - New York Times

Using my sociological imagination

Greetings researchers, thinkers, data monkeys, and general public!

I work with a lot of data daily and I enjoy learning and commenting on the social world around me. I hope to use this virtual space to post interesting articles, research, social science data, and statistical methods related to sociology and family demography. I hope you enjoy!