This is a distinct exaggeration. Who claims this, besides I. Heard and Every Body?

The Great Depression was worse than the Great Recession, but not by orders of magnitude. The US lacked the social welfare net of, say, 20 years ago, but much of that was created in memory of the Depression.

It was newsworthy to show breadlines. It was not journalistic to show the many middle-class families who cut back a bit and did okay: kept the car running rather than buying a new one, or bought a second-hand LaSalle, pulled a daughter out of college so her brother could continue, let the maid go. Domestic workers really found the numbers of jobs dropping.

Most people never stood on a bread line. In the depths of the Depression, in NYC landlords still couldn't get takers for most third-floor walk-ups, even at reduced rates.

Some of the hardest hit were younger men, as employers preferred more experienced workers. Pride of the period was an issue: living in your parent's basement really wasn't acceptable, and men hung their masculinity on being breadwinners. Middle-class men were ashamed to have their wives work.

Social Security was initiated, not only to support worn-out workers but to get them to let go of jobs. People moved down the scale in work they would do, so it really was the lowest classes that got hit worst. But they were not so large a percentage as you picture.