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A story from depression era

There was a surprise early morning today, it was our dhobi. He increased his charges by cool 25%. The inflation is everywhere! ok, jokes apart; I did ask him why the increase. The reply was rather surprising, lots of coal shops have closed down it seems and he just cannot get enough coal and it is becoming expensive. If something in your brain is ticking towards a great depression story, so did mine.

Just in case you dint know, there is a beautiful story (or may be fact) that highlights what happened in Great Depression.

Child: Mother, why is it so cold?
Mother: Because we dont have coal (to heat)
C: But why dont we have coal?
M: Because your father does not have a job
C: Why doesn't father have a job?
M: Because his coal mine shut down
C: Why did coal mine shut down?
M: Because there were no sales
C: Why is there no sales?
M: Because there is too much coal

Had totally forgotten this snippet.

Coal was an important industry during 1920s and 30s employing huge workforce and it did right into middle of century. Coal industry as a chief employer dropped when most of the tasks began to be automated and all-round technological improvements.

But that was 1930s. Cut to 2000s, replace the coal with service industry and puzzle fits in place. Tough times :(
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