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Comment by greedo | Hacker News Reader

The long term scars of this upcoming Depression will be unlike anything anyone under 70 has experienced. And the scars will be long lasting.

My mother in law used to use Cool Whip containers for leftovers. When we'd visit, she'd send us home with food packed in them. Usually stuff like mashed potatoes, but often good stuff too. And when we'd visit her in a few weeks/month, she'd ask where her containers were. This was a generation that saved EVERYTHING. The idea of throwing something out was disrespectful. Waste was the worst of many mortal sins. All because of the Great Depression.

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> And when we'd visit her in a few weeks/month, she'd ask where her containers were.

The correct thing to do here is to return the containers filled with good stuff that you made for her.

Then the reciprocal gestures can continue like an endless game of ping-pong.

A 70 year old today was born in 1950. What have they experienced that's worse than this? I think this is going to be unlike anything in living memory.

my grandfather was a teen during ww2.

This behaviour was common with him aswell. Saving even the bones of chicken/cows to make stock.

when a was a smile child and was nagging him for something to eat, he used to tell me i have never experienced hunger, only "trek". (which would be roughly translated to snackish).

My father was a butcher's son during the Depression. Whenever someone in the family would say "I'm starving!" he would get mad and explain that you had no idea what you were talking about.

My point is that unless you're really old, this is probably one of the worst things you'll experience. Of course that's a Western-centric view. Off the top of my head I think the Cultural Revolution would be worse, the Partition of India would be up there, and the incessant warring and instability in Africa as decolonization occurred.

That's not a bad thing.

Reuse > Recycle† > Landfill

†Assuming Recycle is not the same as Landfill, which it often is.

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