Random musings: History repeats itself

This is something we've heard repeatedly over the years and if you've read my blog post about the generations then you'll know that history seems to repeat itself every 80 - 100 years...or the span of a human lifetime. It seems to be true that we don't learn from our mistakes...or is it something bigger that we have little to no control over?

Since we just had the US Presidential election, I'm going to compare this election to the one in 1928, which was 88 years ago and falls within our 80 - 100 year time frame and because it offers some similarities to last week's election of Donald Trump.

November 1928 was one year into an economic recovery and in November 2016 we are probably in a growth stage of the economy, it's kind of hard to tell because the group that labels the peaks and troughs of the economic cycles hasn't put out it's findings since September 2010...I believe we may have gone through a few changes in the last 6 years.

However, according to the Leading Economic Indicators, we've been growing the whole time and haven't hit the peak yet, but that may change soon.

The president who won the November 1928 election was Herbert Hoover and in many ways, the two men are similar. According to the The Institute for Policy Innovation (IPI) article "Here's the President Donald Trump Most Resembles" here are some of the similarities:

Like Trump, Hoover had never held elective office
Hoover was rich
Hoover was a great manager
Hoover wanted to avoid foreign entanglements
Hoover was big on infrastructure spending (Hoover built the Hoover Dam and Trump wants to build the wall along the southern border)
Hoover limited immigration
Hoover was a protectionist

Today, most economists think protectionism and very restricted immigration hurt the economy. And, rightly or wrongly, they often point to Hoover’s presidency to prove their point, which is why very few presidential candidates have ever wanted to be compared to Hoover. But with Donald Trump, the analogy fits like a glove.

Are we heading into a deeper recession than 2008? Or maybe even a depression? Many people seem to think so:

The Balance: "Could the Great Depression Happen Again?"

Info Wars: "Those That Are Not Preparing For The Coming Economic Depression Are Going To Bitterly Regret It"

Forbes: "How Ultra-Low Interest Rates Will Cause The Next Global Recession"

This may be just the tipping point to move us from an Unraveling Turning to a Crisis Turning and repeat the 80 - 100 year cycle of the generations. The four Archetypes are of the correct ages to move into a crisis...and the rioting over the election hasn't helped to stabilize anything. In fact, I don't think it made any difference who won the election...my opinion is that it would've occurred anyway, and some others say the same thing:

Vocativ: "People Threaten Post Election Riots No Matter Who Wins"

NY Times: "Some Donald Trump Voters Warn of Revolution if Hillary Clinton Wins"

So, we've begun unraveling even further. Or have we? What do you think of this post and the previous post on generations? Are we heading towards a crisis and will the Millennials be the next "Greatest Generation"? Or not?