Chart of the Week: History Rhymes & Cuckoos Migrate

A CNN survey says almost half of Americans think a Second Great Depression is likely in the near term.  US Person thinks it has already begun with a financial crisis in 2008 just as the last Great Depression began with one in 1929. The nation began climbing out of the economic depths of 1932-33 thanks to the "socialism" of the New Deal, but suffered a relapse in 1937 when Roosevelt cut back government spending after his re-election. If the right wing cuckoos in Congress get their way--with the political calculating Obamatron at the helm, that is never beyond possibility--government spending and social programs will again be cut back when the nation needs them the most.* So, in the interest of dispelling doom, this week's chart has nothing to do with economics:

credit: UK Independent

Yes, those bird loving chaps in Britain are at it again as they follow their migratory cuckoos--complete with names--to their winter homes in Africa. The BTO, British Trust for Ornithology, is tracing five cuckoos on their return migration. Clement the cuckoo is already in North Africa and preparing to cross the formidable Sahara desert and its only July! The five birds were fitted with ultralight satellite transmitters in East Anglia are being followed on line at the BTO website. All of this effort is expended because the cuckoos, like many migratory song birds all over the world, are in disastrous decline. Cuckoos in Britain--avian not human--have declined by 65% in the last two decades. One of the questions the tracking hopes to answer is if habitat loss along their 3,000 routes is contributing to their demise. Clement is surprising researchers by his early departure from Britain and his eastern route over Spain; perhaps he knows something the other cuckoos do not or is simply ill-bred. Either way, Lyster better get a move on.

*Iceland and Ireland provide relevant contrasting examples. Iceland rejected responsibility for their banksters' speculative debt; their economy is rebounding. Ireland accepted their banksters' speculative debt and consequent austerity measures; their economy is failing. Consumer spending accounts for about 53% of the Irish economy. US consumers are responsible for 70% of GDP.