Could we survive a Great Depression today?

I think most of those McMansions are going to become boarding houses (like the oversized Victorian houses of the 19thc). The suburban sprawl far from cities could become the new ghettos due to the effects of peak oil. People will no longer desire to be so far from places of employment and resources. Urban real estate will go up in value .The poor will be pushed to the outer limits of society. I think this will happen without or without a depression.

We do have far less farmland in operation and what we do have is mostly devoted to three crops: corn, soy, wheat. The good news is there has been a revival of small family farms in the last 20 years and many of those 5-10 acre suburban fiefdoms could be put back into small scale production. I doubt we will go back to a subsistence type lifestyle in the near future, but I think the days of natural resource gluttony is over.

I think you're suffereing from the Holywoodization of the Great Depression, and perhaps a bit of nostalgia from your source.

Read up on the Farm Holiday movement. Read up on the violence against immigrants and minorities.

BTW -- I live in the city and I know all my neighbors.

As I said, his view was that of someone who was somewhat poor to begin with; also, his impressions were limited to one small town when he was a kid, as he freely admits.

But hearing someone's experiences is interesting, don't you think? As you said, what Hollywood has done is probably pretty far removed from what actually occurred.

Violence? Sure. His point, though, is with society's tendency towards violence today, this depression will be much worse.

Interestingly, I'm hearing this referred to as the Greatest Depression.

It already has a friggin name...