Question

The language of the media makes frequent use of analogy on topics such as ‘Saddam and Hitler,’ ‘Vietnam and Afghanistan,’ and ‘the 2008 Recession and the Great Depression.’ Find one of these in the web (or another analogy of your choice) and summarize the argument. Then discuss whether the analogy is strong or weak. If weak, explain why the analogy fails. Otherwise, explain why you think it should be allowed to stand. Provide a reason for the conclusion that this argument should be rejected. Your reason should make reference to the fallacy of weak analogy.

Answer 1

Great depression was the phase when the economy of whole world got affected. It took place near about 1930. It was started from USA and later on affected most of the nations of world. Stock market got crashed in this phase. Millions of investors were wiped out in just one stroke.

This depression was very important because governments came to know the role of banks. They also realised the importance of stock markets. A requirement of scheme for ensuring minimum wages was also felt. This led to birth of social security system.

2008 crisis is also known as Great recession. It took place because of huge amount of home loans. Government gave loans to people with poor credit scores. All those loans got converted into high risk loans. This period extended for 18 months.

Great depression was there for almost a decade. It created huge unemployment rates across the globe. Great depression was of much higher intensity as compared to 2008's crisis. Hence analogy between these two incidents can not be considered suitable.