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My knowledge of economic history is by no means complete but from what I do know, I think most of the population is blissfully ignorant as to just how long things actually took during previous events.
Some random points I'm aware of:
The DJIA crashed in 1929 as is fairly well known. Perhaps less well known is that it took until mid-1932 to reach the bottom.
The DJIA did not return to its 1929 high in nominal value until 1954. That's 25 years.
In inflation adjusted terms, the DJIA did not reach its' 1929 high again until 1959 and did not permanently exceed this level in inflation adjusted terms until late 1991, fully 62 years after the crash.
Many industries which shut down in 1930 as the great depression set in did resume operations but not until circa 1936. Among many others were various metal smelting plants in Australia.
Australian basic wage was cut 10% in 1931 and restored in 1937.
Australian state governments were still actively pursuing "make work schemes" in 1934 to address the economic problems. It may have continued even longer but was definitely still around that point.
The DJIA reached another high in January 1966 at just under 1000. It then went sideways and did not meaningfully exceed this level in nominal terms until late 1982.
In inflation adjusted terms the January 1966 level was not exceeded until September 1995. In the meantime the USA put a man on the moon and experienced 5 recessions.
Here's a 100 year chart of the DJIA with options for either nominal values or inflation adjusted: https://www.macrotrends.net/1319/dow-jones-100-year-historical-chart
As is fairly well known, Australia's last official recession ended in 1991. However:
Australian unemployment did not return to its 1989 low point until 2003 and was persistently seen as a problem throughout the 1990's.
Australian state governments were in general also still dealing with the fallout from the recession in the late 1990's and politics was still very much about "ending the recession". Whilst it may have technically ended years earlier, it sure didn't feel like it in much of the country where a "doom and gloom" environment persisted.
Another aspect from the difficulties of the past was a shortage of capital. Read back through old annual reports and so on of both private enterprise and government authorities and a consistent theme emerges. They'd like to do x but couldn't get the money! Couldn't borrow it from a bank, because the banks didn't have enough money to lend, and couldn't raise funds easily by any other means either.
For quite some time various government authorities went as far as borrowing money directly from the general public in order to fund infrastructure. Like these:
Various listed companies likewise encouraged members of the public, the vast majority of whom had no experience with share ownership at the time, to buy their newly issued shares for the same underlying reason that capital was scarce.
Now my point here isn't about 1929 or investing in railways and I'm not saying we're necessarily about to have a repeat of the Great Depression. Rather, my point is simply that there are plenty of past precedents, within just one human lifetime, for economic problems which take decades to fully resolve.
I think there's a lot of people, probably including some of our politicians, completely unaware of history in this regard. Completely unaware of just how difficult getting out of a hole can end up being and how long it takes. Given the extent of the current circumstances, that's somewhat concerning.
Some random points I'm aware of:
The DJIA crashed in 1929 as is fairly well known. Perhaps less well known is that it took until mid-1932 to reach the bottom.
The DJIA did not return to its 1929 high in nominal value until 1954. That's 25 years.
In inflation adjusted terms, the DJIA did not reach its' 1929 high again until 1959 and did not permanently exceed this level in inflation adjusted terms until late 1991, fully 62 years after the crash.
Many industries which shut down in 1930 as the great depression set in did resume operations but not until circa 1936. Among many others were various metal smelting plants in Australia.
Australian basic wage was cut 10% in 1931 and restored in 1937.
Australian state governments were still actively pursuing "make work schemes" in 1934 to address the economic problems. It may have continued even longer but was definitely still around that point.
The DJIA reached another high in January 1966 at just under 1000. It then went sideways and did not meaningfully exceed this level in nominal terms until late 1982.
In inflation adjusted terms the January 1966 level was not exceeded until September 1995. In the meantime the USA put a man on the moon and experienced 5 recessions.
Here's a 100 year chart of the DJIA with options for either nominal values or inflation adjusted: https://www.macrotrends.net/1319/dow-jones-100-year-historical-chart
As is fairly well known, Australia's last official recession ended in 1991. However:
Australian unemployment did not return to its 1989 low point until 2003 and was persistently seen as a problem throughout the 1990's.
Australian state governments were in general also still dealing with the fallout from the recession in the late 1990's and politics was still very much about "ending the recession". Whilst it may have technically ended years earlier, it sure didn't feel like it in much of the country where a "doom and gloom" environment persisted.
Another aspect from the difficulties of the past was a shortage of capital. Read back through old annual reports and so on of both private enterprise and government authorities and a consistent theme emerges. They'd like to do x but couldn't get the money! Couldn't borrow it from a bank, because the banks didn't have enough money to lend, and couldn't raise funds easily by any other means either.
For quite some time various government authorities went as far as borrowing money directly from the general public in order to fund infrastructure. Like these:
Various listed companies likewise encouraged members of the public, the vast majority of whom had no experience with share ownership at the time, to buy their newly issued shares for the same underlying reason that capital was scarce.
Now my point here isn't about 1929 or investing in railways and I'm not saying we're necessarily about to have a repeat of the Great Depression. Rather, my point is simply that there are plenty of past precedents, within just one human lifetime, for economic problems which take decades to fully resolve.
I think there's a lot of people, probably including some of our politicians, completely unaware of history in this regard. Completely unaware of just how difficult getting out of a hole can end up being and how long it takes. Given the extent of the current circumstances, that's somewhat concerning.
