Is it a recession or a depression?

Unemployed workers in front of a shack with Christmas tree,
East 12th Street, New York City.
Lee, Russell, 1903- photographer.
CREATED/PUBLISHED 1938 Jan.
Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division,
FSA-OWI Collection

Photo © Ulf Fågelhammar, 2003

There is always something to learn from history. During The Great Depression of the 1930s the US Government hired some of the best photographers to document Americans in every part of the nation The collection holds some of the most famous documentary photographs ever produced.

But what is going on in the world today, some seventy years later? Are we facing a recession or a full depression. What about the role of photography in such an environment? I have no good answer to that. But in any case, it is something that can´t be ignored.

The World Bank has set up a web site about the financial crisis and "economists estimate a one percent decline in growth in developing countries pushes an additional 20 million people into poverty. And growth is expected to slow in developing countries at a greater rate than previously anticipated, because of financial turmoil worldwide." read full article here.