High Schoolers Say Great Depression Was Boring....

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Today my husband and I both had interesting/disturbing experiences.

I went to the bank today and witnessed firsthand people withdrawing large amounts of cash from their accounts. There was this one particular woman, probably in her seventies, that apparently has been a long time customer of the bank. When the teller quietly asked the woman if she was sure that she wanted to withdraw such a large amount, the woman was adamant. She was rather forceful in her response and attracted the attention of one of the managers. When asked why she would want to withdraw so much cash, the woman all but hollered, "Cuz it's MY MONEY!" Having voiced the unspeakable, several other customers voiced that they too were there to "get their money." I too, withdrew the amount that my family has planned for several months to have on hand..."just in case." But there wasn't any panic, no pushing and shoving, just a small line of people discretely taking care of their business.

This scenario bothered me for two reasons. 1)The elderly woman's response screams of a history, hard times that she suffered through and doesn't want to suffer through again. And 2), that while people are going about their daily lives, "Business As Usual", they ARE paying attention.

On to my husband's experience. He is a High School AP History teacher and with this week being the end of the semester, he asked his students what topics they wanted to cover next semester. After the kids tossed a few ideas around the room, he suggested, The Great Depression. The overwhelming response was "That is SO Boring!" Always the one to push them to qualify their statements, he asked them why they thought it would be boring. Of course, most of these kids have never missed a meal and perceive bad times as being grounded for the weekend. He then turned their conversation towards current events and asked them what had been going on in the news lately. Students: In Chorus, "Y2K". Teacher: And what about Y2K? Students: ...computers are going to go beserk and people are taking their money out of the banks because they don't want to lose it all if the banks close. Teacher: And why would people think that they would lose all of their money if the banks close? Students: Because that is what happened during the Great Depression. Teacher: Aaaaaahhhhhh. I see. And do you think that if we experience even a fraction of what went on then that it will be 'boring'? Student: ......you mean it could actually happen to us?

The years that separate the woman in the bank and my husband's students span more than decades. The years represent how complacent we all are to history and the way it repeats itself.

-- LZach (lisa@texasnetworks.com), December 15, 1999

Answers

Good post LZach. I can't imagine those kids without tv to sedate them. Their poor mothers....

-- Hokie (nn@va.com), December 15, 1999.

"Those who do not study history are doomed to repeat it." (That's why history repeats itself)

To LZach's husband:

You are in a unique position. As a teacher of history I am sure you have read many ideas about why the Great Depression happened, many of which are bogged down in many technical details.

However I would like to propose to you a very simple explaination, which you may already subscribe to, as also put forward by Congressman McFadden in the 1930's during the height of the Depression in a seminal address to Congress calling for criminal investigations into the conduct of the Federal Reserve. If you do then you'll find the reading at the links below fascinating if you have not read it before. If you don't subscribe to McFadden's explaination, then I suggest the reading at the links below as they a complication of facts from the Congressional Records, the publicly stated positions of America's past luminaries (such as the Framers, Jefferson, Jackson, and many others) and from the actual laws that concern the "Federal" Reserve Banks and the laws passed by Congress since Jefferson's time.

The Great Depression was just one of many such economic crises that was artificially created by European Bankers in order to try for the fourth time to establish a private central bank with the power to issue its own currency just as was established by the wealthy in England in 1694 as a condition for a loan to William III when he needed funds for a war against France.

Before you dismiss this as "consipiracy theory" rubbish I suggest you read "The Comming Battle", a 500 page book printed in 1899, based on congressional records, the actual laws passed, and other public documents which provides the history of the first 125 years of the battles between upholding the Consitituion against the interests of the European Banking Families It was lost and found "relatively" recently. Its full text is now available on the internet, at the link below, as it is reported only 2 copies of the original text exit.

http://www-douzzer.ai.mit.edu:8080/conspiracy/comingbattle/cmgbtl.htm

Please also read Congressman McFadden's speech to Congress at

http://www.oregontrail.net/~mmontagne/mcfadden.html

If you don't want any editorial, skip the first few screenfulls and go straight to the speech, although the info at the begining is useful for newcomers to the issue of what the Federal Reserve is all about.

For a brief taste of what you'll find in the above please read the following two threads:

http://www.greenspun.com/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg.tcl?msg_id=001zOc

and

http://www.greenspun.com/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg.tcl?msg_id=00209Z

I guarantee you'll find these two items the most rivetting reading you've ever come across. The first 2 chapters alone of The Comming Battle make Tom Clancy's stories seem like kindergarten books.

Just to whet your appetite did you know that:

The European Banker Families had the power in 1862 to force the Congress to pass a law that states that the US government should not accept its own currency on import duties it levies on its own citizens and that the US government must accept payment of its Bonds in paper currency but pay interest to the bond holders in gold. Effectively they had the power to make the US Government announce to the world it doesn't think that its currency is good enough for these two items and only gold should be used. Guess where the government had to buy the gold from to pay the interest on the original debt. Guess where the importers had to buy the gold from to pay the duties. Guess who got all the gold back when the government paid its interest on its bonds. The bankers who bought the bonds in the first place!!

This was the start of the most unbelievable set of laws passed in the subsequent 10 years which no self-respecting society would ever pass without external coersion.

I also think that your students might also be inclinded to study the whole story as laid out in "The Comming Battle" rather than just the Depression. Looking at the whole story gives context for the Depression as it was just one event in an ongoing saga that started with the first cabinet of the President of the United States. You'll find learning about and understanding this global game, that goes by largely unnoticed and un-reported but irrefutable given the sources of its existance are the laws and records of congress itself, very addictive.

I look forward to your response on this thread as a history teacher.



-- Interested Spectator (is@aol.com), December 15, 1999.


Slight correction, the Depression was not created to *establish* the Federal Reserve Bank, but was created by the Federal Reserve Bank, the forth central bank to be established in the United States.

-- Interested Spectator (is@aol.com), December 15, 1999.

At a school my wife taught at, one class was learning how to budget income and expenses. One student raised his hand. "How much do we get in food stamps?" The teacher answered they got no food stamps. Student: "Then how do we buy food?" ...Do you get a feeling there's a serious reality check coming in the mail?

-- StanTheMan (heidrich@presys.com), December 15, 1999.

I went to my credit union today to deposit three checks from Charles Schwab and Dreyfus totalling $20,000. I want to wire the money tomorrow to buy some gold. The teller said she would have to put a 7 business day hold on the checks since they were from out of state. I told her that did not allow enough time for me to be sure of receiving my gold before the end of the year. If they were going to put a 7-day hold on the funds, I would instead just come in next Thursday and take all $20,000 in cash. She looked somewhat surprised (I think she was only half listening) and asked me to repeat what I said. After I repeated, she asked me to wait and she went to speak with a higher power for five minutes of so. She then came back and told me that since the checks were from a "big" well-known name like Charles Schwab that they would not put a hold on them. I am free to come in tomorrow morning and wire out the entire $20,000. I did not know that the banking rules were so easily set aside - or maybe they just don't want to be having to shell out $20,000 cash?

By the way, just this one time I am not putting my real name or email address on this message. Being anonymous is the only way I feel comfortable sharing the personal financial details of this story.

-- Tom (Tom@fakeaddress.com), December 15, 1999.



When banks put these 'holds' on large checks, they divert the money into short term notes and skim the interest. This should be illegal by all rights, and it is illegal if individuals do it, but banks are by law above such petty moral concerns.

-- Forrest Covington (theforrest@mindspring.com), December 15, 1999.

Tom,

A seven day hold is a common practice at most banks for large checks that are not drawn on local banks. This supposedly is to give the receiving bank time to process the check through the issuing bank and make sure the funds are indeed available.

On another note, I don't know how large your credit union is (in terms of assets), but banks only keep $.07 for every dollar deposited in cash reserves. Exactly why the Feds don't want people withdrawing their money...their just simply isn't enough to go around.

LZach

-- Lisa Zach (lisa@texasnetworks.com), December 15, 1999.


Stan the Man: I have many 8th grade students who are on food stamps, but not one would ever admit it in class.

-- preparing (preparing@home.com), December 15, 1999.

preparing--try an economically depressed area like Dorris, CA, a place so wretched that the feds wrote off part of my wife's student loans for teaching there two years. Not enough, though--she almost gave up teaching for good. BTW, is it my imagination or are there quite a few teachers posting here? I admire you guys, FWIW. Tough job these days.

-- StanTheMan (heidrich@presys.com), December 15, 1999.

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