That's a good scary question. America is so compromised & weakened it may not be able to rebuild itself. If another disaster were to strike it could send us spiraling downward. I think we are vulnerable to a depression crisis.

Not close at all. A large number of variables would have to move down or drastically drop in order for the US economy to enter into an actual depression. We are still in a slow growth period.

We are right on the doorstep. Most Americans hold their wealth in their homes. As this value decreases and credit and other debt increases the pressure on the economy increases until there is a crack. We are really close right now.

My guess is pretty close. It should be interesting to see what name they come up with for it. Since we are the politically correct Prozac Nation I don't think "depression" era will do.

Were going into a recession. No doubt about that. Looking at the signs I'm scared a depression is close, our economy is one almost entirely based in debt-just like in the 20's and 30's. Either way, if I had any amount of money I would buy things that will retain their value, gold and silver. Don't invest in US or other countries currencies, once the US falls it will force every other country down with it.

We are just in a recessionary period at the present time. There are no indications that we are headed towards a depression. If we did, it would be a Global depression. We would not be alone.

IMO we've been sliding down that hole for awhile.

There have been a lot of recessions in our history just because of the business cycle. The Great Depression was different from the rest, much longer and much worse, because it was caused mostly by the stupidity of a Republican President and prolonged by the stupidity of a Democratic President. There were several causes of the Depression. Some were beyond our control, such as failure of the Credit-Anstalt in Vienna. But when Hoover signed the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act over the objections of a thousand economists who begged him not to, world trade fell by 50%. And almost everything Roosevelt did to try to make the Depression better made it worse, because almost everything Roosevelt "knew" about economics wasn't so.

We will not have a depression like the "great depression." back then a great portion of the economy was driven by agriculture 25% of the labor force and commodities, when production lagged or prices fell spending power by farmers fell. The dollar was backed by real gold which prevented the government from providing money to banks, less money meant that people were afraid that large withdrawals would leave their bank empty so people lined up and took their cash. The government double taxes on imports reducing the exchange of money globally. The government actually reduced the country's ability stimulate the economy because there was no economic policy and decisions that were knee jerk hurt the situation. Once we doubled taxes on imports the importing countries reduced their shipments to us then they bought less from us, double dipping in the sting of the reduction of economic growth or stability. The ideology of policy then was if a weak business or bank makes mistakes and fails someone else that can do better with pick up their pieces. This meant that uncle sam didn't help to correct problems, today we have many policies like adjusting interest rates and lending money to banks. We also approved sales like the recent sale of Bear Sterns, this prevented a possible bankruptcy and economic hardship that would have a ripple effect. Right now the dollar is weak and inflation is rising, this shall pass and stocks are on sale, now is the time to buy. The number of Americans is so much higher than in 1930 think about the essentials that we spend money on this alone keeps a certain amount of money moving through the economy. 2008 is different from 1930, most countries didn't back their money up with gold they backed it up with the dollar which was backed up by gold. When we hit rock bottom so did everyone else's money so it was a global drop. Now we don't back every dollar up with .40 cents in gold, this is what hurt us back then and can help us now. We have many tools as a country/government that help like reducing interest rates allows banks to lend more liberally and more frequently.

We are well on our way into depression. So much has spun off of the increase in gas price. The higher the gas price goes, the higher the food cost goes. As a result, the trucker's petrol cost is higher, and as his costs go higher, the food prices, again, rise higher. Also, don't forget the affect this has on the cost of natural gas for home heating. As prices for these essentials rise, the demand for less essential items decrease... items like higher lines of clothing and shoes, appliances, etc. We spend more time at Walmart but even Walmart begins to suffer as the cycle continues to spin with the ever increasing cost of gas. Very shortly, we will begin to see a profound affect on automobile sales. We've seen auto sellers now offering to purchase fuel for a given amount of time for potential customers, however, as many auto producers begin to turn out hybrids, the old inventory will sit, untouched, again, a result of spiraling gas prices. As this cycle continues, inventory of all sorts will sit unpurchased. This was one of the hallmarks of the great depression. As the cost of gas continues its upward spiral, you will begin to see homes that are no longer practical or affordable because the commute has become a burden too great to bare. This a result of dual homeownership (husband and wife) gas X 2 = too great a financial burden to bare. This scenario is a pretty good rendition of the slippery slope into depression. I thoroughly expected something like this to happen when bush took office. Introductory macroeconomics shows us just how devastating republican administrations can be on an economy. After all, there were three republican administration just prior to the Great Depression. It took just one Great Democrat to pull us out of the Great Depression and on the road to being the World Power that we were for the next 40 years... Franklin D Roosevelt. It's unfortunate that so few of us are educated well enough to have learned these lessons.

This nation is going to hell in a ham basket the fact is that it has been ever sense all of the politicization came to be part of the government and the decision making process. the fact is That in the olden days politics was voluntary work, and people didn't make a living off of it like now a days. They have corrupted our government with their nonsense and ignorance, and we will all pay for it very soon. The solutions to our oil crisis are right in front of us but we don't have the power, or money to convince the right people. When the country goes down we will all do it together, so don't get depressed.............