The world economy is tracking or doing worse than during the Great Depression

Check out the link below. The graphs are fantastic and the authors are updating their graphs every couple months and it puts the current economic crisis in perspective. The US may be doing better than it did during the Great Depression so far, but the rest of the world is not.

(September 2009 update) | vox - Research-based policy analysis and commentary from leading economists:

"To summarise: the world is currently undergoing an economic shock every bit as big as the Great Depression shock of 1929-30. Looking just at the US leads one to overlook how alarming the current situation is even in comparison with 1929-30.

The good news, of course, is that the policy response is very different. The question now is whether that policy response will work. For the answer, stay tuned for our next column."

Has America Lost Its Mojo?

Has America Lost Its Mojo?: This puts the current recession into more perspective.

"Prior to the 1950s, output drops of 15-20 percent in a single year were routine (admittedly, national income accounting was more primitive.) A number of academic economists say we should simply tough it out as we did back then. Recessions have important cleansing effects, helping to facilitate painful restructuring.

But today's social, economic, and political systems ― at least in developed countries ― are unable to withstand a peacetime decline in output of 15-20 percent within a short period. Massive stimulus and intervention ― the U.S. Federal Reserve's current stance ― is unavoidable. One can only hope that the state can get out of the economy half as fast as it is getting in. Nevertheless, the distinct possibility that stimulus and restructuring may work is further cause to hope that the deepening recession will not morph into a full-blown depression."