Depressing Recession

I found Sherwood Anderson's "Puzzled America" to be the most interesting of the readings because of its similarity to the current situation in America today. Anderson talks about a lack of "belief" in this country, a catch phrase that popped up countless times during the 2008 presidential elections. He talks about the growing gap between the rich and poor, the unemployment rates, and the fact that Americans are destroying natural resources and land. He writes of the "waste of wealth here, the waste of land, of potential power in coal and oil, in vast unneeded buildings." These are all issues that came up in the election; economic troubles combined with an ecological/ environmental crisis in both time periods led Americans to question the leadership of our government and feel disconnected from it and from the minority of citizens who seem to own and control all of the country's wealth. Anderson expands on the misconceptions of the wealthy minority of Americans, by questioning the prevailing belief in social mobility, the idea that all Americans, if they only work harder, can obtain wealth and success. He argues that this attitude only makes that minority less understanding and less empathetic with the situation in the country. This article makes me wonder how different those times are from now. We keep hearing that we're in the midst of an "economic crisis" and a recession. Has no one used the word "depression" because of the negative connotation? According to Wikipedia (not the most reliable source, but I'm not an economist), a recession is identified by a 1.5% rise in unemployment during a 12 month period. A depression is defined as worse than a recession (obviously) but how do we know when one becomes another? Even though our current unemployment rates are not nearly as severe as they were in the Great Depression, I cannot help but notice the similarities in American attitude and morale.