"The only test of the utility of Knowledge, is its promoting the happiness of mankind." — Dr. STARK on Diet, p. 90.
I hereby nominate the phrase 'Global Recession' as the successor to the Great Depression. The economic and moral firewalls that separated traditional markets have been erased, removing the barriers to the spread of economic problems. The U.S. cannot occupy Europe and and Asia to recover, and neither can Japan leverage itself up out of a downturn by turning to the American consumer.
Now there's just one big boat. It's just that we've used leveraged securities to drill a hole in the bottom.