VII. Superfluous labor and the collapse of capitalism

If we now return to the definition of depression offered by the wiki, we can see how inadequate it is:

In economics, a depression is a sustained, long-term downturn in economic activity in one or more economies. It is a more severe downturn than a recession, which is seen by economists as part of a normal business cycle.

Considered a rare and extreme form of recession, a depression is characterized by its length, and by abnormally large increases in unemployment, falls in the availability of credit— quite often due to some kind of banking/financial crisis, shrinking output and investment, numerous bankruptcies— including sovereign debt defaults, significantly reduced amounts of trade and commerce— especially international, as well as highly volatile relative currency value fluctuations— most often due to devaluations. Price deflation, financial crises and bank failures are also common elements of a depression.

The definition is not only inadequate; it contains assumptions about both depressions and recessions that are misleading and altogether an obstacle to understanding the current economic disturbance we call the Great Recession.