From Falsipedia
One of the many long movie lines during the Great Depression
The Great Depression, also known as the "Grand Ole Depression," is a time period in American history where everyone in the United States of America was stricken with a case of the "gloomy guses". It all started when a banker, by the name of Gus Winthrop, made a simple clerical error while handling the American Government's account, thinking that his work on the account was finished, Gus went to lunch. While out Gus's assistant filed the government’s statements and the error was incorporated into the system. This being the pen and paper age the mistake was discovered too late and the damage was already done. The government appeared to be flat broke, the Stock Market plummeted and the citizens freaked out. Banks started to falter and people lost jobs, homes and more. Everyone was unhappy, unemployed and times were dark.
It was at this point that two inventions caught the attention of the masses. The moving picture and bootleg alcohol soon stole, and occasionally rotted, the hearts, minds and stomachs of the American people. Since the whole nation was out of work and had nothing better to do, they just sat around getting drunk and watching movies. This diversion gave the good looking people work and the poor people a new role in society. It didn’t take long for people to start saying to each other, “Boy, isn’t this depression great!” In fact this phrase became so popular that it stuck and the entire time period of the 1930's was forever known as the Great Depression.
