The Grapes of Wrath 2010

[sportage]

So what would an updated 2010 remake of the famous movie THE GRAPES OF WRATH look like? Comparing the story plot today with back then.

Then... the family discovered a government ran camp clean and organized, but when asked if work was available the answer was no.
Today... Unemployment benefits are extended over and over giving families on hard times a life line. But no work is tied to the benefits. They just collect unemployment.

Then... The government jobs that were available had to do with the retaking of land occupied by share cropping.
Today... People are paid to clean out foreclosed homes. Government jobs were offered for census workers. They were temporary and soon ended when no longer needed.

Then... The banks and land owners took back share cropping land kicking off the share croppers. Nothing was done by the government to protect the displaced share croppers.
Today... Banks foreclose on home owners with the home owner having little or no protection. Home owners are evicted. The government has little or no power to help displaced home owners.

Just seems pretty eerie to compare back then with now. Especially when things could get much worse as more homes are foreclosed and the jobless rate goes up, and with more and more people depending and living on extended government unemployment with little job growth or job creation.

Michael Moore should do a remake of the Grapes of Wrath updated 2010.
What was it back then, that turned things around?
World War II ?
Strict banking regulation?
Government work programs?

 

[boomerang]

Some pics to help set the tone.

http://iowntheworld.com/blog/?p=38486

 

[sportage]

Now THATS what Im talking about !!!! Thank you!
A picture "is" worth a thousand words...

 

[PeshakJang]

Then... people took any job that they could to provide for their family, and made the absolute most out of what they had, sometimes relocating across the country to find work.

Today... people get 2 years of free money and refuse to take any job that is 'below' them, rarely searching for work outside of their immediate area, while attempting to maintain their previous, unreasonable lifestyle. Any attempt to infringe on this is seen as insensitive and won't be tolerated by the progresssssssives.



And to answer your question, the thing that 'turned things around' back then was the departure from the gold standard by countries around the world. Government policies arguably slowed the recovery, while WWII came mostly at the end and had little to do with the actual recovery.

 

[Turin39789]

Then... people couldn't find jobs and soup lines were blocks long. The natural disaster of the dustbowl on top of the economic conditions ruined families and towns and sent people scrambling across the country in a quest to survive.

Now... Mcdonalds for breakfast.

 

[JSt0rm]

Then... people took any job that they could to provide for their family, and made the absolute most out of what they had, sometimes relocating across the country to find work.

Today... people get 2 years of free money and refuse to take any job that is 'below' them, rarely searching for work outside of their immediate area, while attempting to maintain their previous, unreasonable lifestyle. Any attempt to infringe on this is seen as insensitive and won't be tolerated by the progresssssssives.

AND we will let them smoke weed. bitch.

 

[bfdd]

AND we will let them smoke weed. bitch.

i smoke weed, but i also work

 

[JSt0rm]

i smoke weed, but i also work

I dont smoke weed, but I also work.

 

[techs]

Americans hating on Americans.
Destroying America one stereotype at at time.

 

[zephyrprime]

Then... people couldn't find jobs and soup lines were blocks long. The natural disaster of the dustbowl on top of the economic conditions ruined families and towns and sent people scrambling across the country in a quest to survive.

The dust bowl was a man made disaster.

 

[Linflas]

The people with the baseball bats stopping the influx of job seekers would be on the western borders of Oklahoma and Texas instead of California?

 

[Drako]

The dust bowl was a man made disaster.

Yep, the severe drought had absolutely nothing to do with it.

 

[PeshakJang]

Americans hating on Americans.
Destroying America one stereotype at at time.

Yeah... those goddamn Republicans are all the same.

 

[ConstipatedVigilante]

Yep, the severe drought had absolutely nothing to do with it.

Well, of course the severe drought had something to do with it. But the fact that the farmers kept farming the same soil turned the topsoil into dust, and thus the dust-storms. Jesus, people learn this in 8th grade these days...

 

[Lanyap]

Americans hating on Americans.
Destroying America one stereotype at at time.

__________________
White America has lost it's mind.

The Tea Baggers: "Bringing back the failed policies that caused the Great Depression"

Republicans: "If you liked our Great Recession just wait til you see our Great Depression 2. Coming to America just as soon as you vote for us."

That's such a gem. I had to keep it for posteriority.

 

[Jhhnn]

Then... people took any job that they could to provide for their family, and made the absolute most out of what they had, sometimes relocating across the country to find work.

Today... people get 2 years of free money and refuse to take any job that is 'below' them, rarely searching for work outside of their immediate area, while attempting to maintain their previous, unreasonable lifestyle. Any attempt to infringe on this is seen as insensitive and won't be tolerated by the progresssssssives.

A little bit judgmental are we? Need to feel "superior" somehow?

So, uhh, kindly inform us where there are jobs for people who are unemployed, all 14M or so? Speak up!

Of course, it doesn't really matter that employers are holding back, because of, uuhhh, "uncertainty", yeh, that's it, and they're "waiting for demand to pick up", like that'll happen when there aren't enough jobs to go around. Meanwhile, profits are at near record levels on reduced volume and investment dollars are pumped overseas faster than the FRB can print 'em... Go ahead, figure it out...

The vituperatively lame denial of Righties never ceases to amaze me. If you really think that much of life's failure and success isn't just the luck of the draw, you're delusional.

Lots of hardworking well educated people went to work for Bear Stearns, Lehmann, Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan Chase, yet had entirely different outcomes from their employment experiences, bet on that. Much of what happens to most of us is beyond our individual control entirely. Anybody who really thinks differently is walking around with their eyes wide shut. Life isn't an Ayn Rand novel or a John Wayne Western.