California’s Economy: Great Depression 2011?

During the 1930s California was awash in ambitious public works projects including the Caldecott Tunnel, the Golden Gate Bridge and the Hetch Hetchy Aqueduct. These projects helped lay the groundwork for the expansion of the state to its present status as the 10th largest economy in the world. 

Will California’s present economic recession trigger a similar burst of innovation and future growth?

Mary Anne Brady, Ed.D., will lead a discussion comparing the financial crises of these two eras on Aug. 10 at the Mastick Senior Center. The talk will be held from 10:30 a.m. to 12 p.m. in Room D. Admission is free to senior center members and $5 for non-members. Dr. Brady’s presentation is part of the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute.

A third-generation Californian raised in San Francisco and now living in Oakland, Dr. Brady is an adjunct faculty lecturer at California State University East Bay and San Francisco State University. She is also a management consultant, working both in the United States and Asia. She received a business degree from DePaul University in Chicago and also holds a master’s degree in organizational development and a doctorate in organization and leadership. 

Recently she began traveling the senior center and assisted living circuits to lead current affairs discussions for groups whose audience members lived through the Great Depression.

“I was already interested in the subject,” explained Dr. Brady, “and I realized the seniors had a lot to say about it too.” She is now a regular speaker at  in Alameda and has led discussions at Baywood Court in Castro Valley.

Her presentations on the Great Depression's economy and lectures profiling Dorothea Lange are often interactive, as seniors offer their own recollections or those shared with them by their parents. 

Dr. Brady says although she has studied the 1930s economy and has thought much about what we can glean from that era's situation today, she cannot offer one easy solution to the current financial malaise. 

“I don’t provide all the answers in my presentations,” she says. “I am posing questions. I have a conversation with the audience.” 

Dr. Brady does have some opinions she is willing to share, however. She said the chief way America climbed out of the Great Depression of the 1930s was to enter World War II, and she now believes the way to overcome today’s recession is to do just the opposite.

“I’m not advocating isolationism,” she said, “but we need to reduce our military spending. These altercations around the world are costing us money that needs to be used elsewhere.” 

At the same time, Dr, Brady said she believes more government is not necessarily the solution to solving the economy’s troubles. “Do we want to see more government in our lives or do we want people to take more ownership and insist on more accountability at the local level?” 

A quality educational system is also key, she believes, and required to  train students to take jobs that will become available in the near future. California, she says, is on the leading edge of manufacturing and retrofitting buildings to be sustainable, for example.

And while she said she is a strong advocate of unions, she said she wonders if, in some cases, union demands have crossed a line and gone too far, ultimately negatively impacting the overall economy.

Dr. Brady emphasized that she welcomes civil debate during her presentations and always enjoys a good economic policy argument. 

"I don't expect everyone to agree with me," she said, "What I want to do is to stimulate discussion."