• “Welcome to the New Depression”: A New Song by Darryl Holter

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    During the Great Depression in the 1930s the Carter Family had a hit with “No Depression in Heaven.”  It proclaimed that the Depression meant that the end of the world was coming, the latter days had arrived, and we would soon face the final Day of Judgment.

    Out here the hearts of men are fading
    These are latter days we know
    The Great Depression now is spreading
    God’s words declare it must be so.

    I’m going where there’s no Depression
    To a better land that’s free from care
    I’ll leave this world of toil and trouble
    My home’s in heaven, I’m going there

    I wanted to write about the current state of the American economy but, in the spirit of Woody Guthrie, present it as an “answer song” — one that responds to an older song by offering a different perspective on economic policy.

    — Darryl Holter