What are some similarities and differences between the Great Depression and the times we are living today?

The similarities are of course the economic recession
through which the country has just suffered. Also, the causes are similar; greed not
only by investors, but others, who pushed the economy to the brink to make a fast
dollar. The primary difference is that there are now safeguards in place which did not
exist then, so the effect of the downturn is not as
traumatic.

During the Great Depression, there were no
safeguards to prevent wild speculation in the Stock Market. One could purchase stock on
margin (investment loan) for as little as 5% of the purchase price. Now the required
margin is 50%. During that time, the Dust Bowl resulted because farmers did not rotate
crops or use good soil preservation techniques. Farmers have since learned not to make
that mistake. Also there was no insurance in the event of bank failure. When banks
failed, depositors lost everything. The very rumor that a bank might fail resulted in a
"run" on the bank (all depositors demanding their money), which only served to make it
fail that much more quickly. The Glass Stegall Banking Act created the Federal Deposit
Insurance Corporation, since which time, no depositor has lost money in a federally
insured bank.

Finally, Social Security is now in existence
so the elderly, disabled, and widowed/orphaned have some means of subsistence. This was
also not true during the time of the Depression.

The
present Recession has been painful and expensive; however the American people have not
lost hope as they did at that point. One other similarity you might consider. The
Presidents who dealt with both were Democrats, and both believers in Keynesian
economics--massive government expenditure to fight the downturn.