Perhaps I'm cynical, but I don't believe the collective memory will last long enough unless it does turn out to be as bad as the 30's, which is highly unlikely. That was enough to impress an entire generation and many of the next one.
not cynical. quite to the point. i didn't learn a thing from past crashes.
in the 1970s i lived in a beach condo on an island and then in a florida waterfront home with a big boat out back. i'd hear a large engine outside and didn't know if it was a friend with a hot car out front or a quick boat out back and off we'd ride into the sunset, after dinner, smoking a joint out in the ocean (hopefully we took the boat).
looking back, my parents probably had a tough time. not poverty tough, but likely not what they wanted. i didn't realize it then, but for a few years they did cut back on vacations & other spending. probably boating trips were cut short, though fuel was still cheap. i recall mom wrote out on her family-famous 3x5 cards (what we always thought was amazing organizing skills but in retrospect might have been her way of coping with alzheimer's) each week's menu, probably so she'd only purchase requirements and not waste money.
but i still received allowance for doing house chores (clean pool, scrub decks, wash cars, take out the garbage, landscape). also i had a part time job. at the time, i thought i was flush in money. crash? what crash? inflation? who knew? not me.
in the 80s i was working and making a decent living, nothing to brag about but it kept me in a nice condo with swimming pool near beach, i had company car and expenses, i contributed to 401k just as a matter of routine, not with any goal in mind, simply because saving money was a part of making money. i rebalanced unknowingly because i liked the accounts to look neat (we had an option of like 8 or so funds so, not knowing what i was doing, i just kept an equal amount in each). crash? what crash? 1987? i hadn't a clue. didn't affect me, not one bit.
i look at the life of my niece and nephews now. my eldest nephew is away at school in his own apartment on a lake with boats out back and tennis courts in front, just a short walk from the brand new, extremely amazing campus gymnasium. my niece is pushing for her second horse so she can ride western without ruining the training she's put into her english jumper. ya think she's gotta clue? my youngest nephew, all he knows is computer games. just 13, he shouldn't have to know more. enjoy.
listening to some talking tv head the other day i learned that 60% of those who contribute to a 401k never make changes to it. it stays set from where ever it started. what do they know? anyone who hasn't lost a job, what crash?
i'm a news junkie especially now in strange times. i can not understand when i turn on the tv why these lame shows are playing. i should see news about the economy on every channel. not commercials, not sitcoms, not poorly conceived drama, just news about this crash. what crash?
food lines. we aren't even following food trucks to the supermarkets yet like those in the southeast after ike followed fuel trucks to their next dispensary. so maybe we won't be on line for bread & soup. our shelves are stocked. where are the food lines? what do they mean that there's no money?
though i always saved money, i never thought in terms of retirement until i retired. and now that i'm experiencing the very first crash (as far as i was ever aware) of my lifetime, i'm seriously considering going back to work and i am taking immediate steps to reduce or halt reductions of principal where that is within my ready control.
this is not the life i thought i'd have. having no market to sell to, i can't sell out now and vagabond like i had planned. though i didn't learn from past crashes, i still have some skills.
what i learned so far from this fire sale (& i am hoping there are not too many lessons but i am afraid there will be) is how quickly exits can be blocked. what i have learned not from past crashes, but from past experience of simply living my life is that no matter what happens, no matter where i am, it matters less what is happening to me and more what i do and how i think about it. live and learn.