Depends on where you are. Parts of Latin America have been in an economic pit since the late 70s - I guess you could say “once in a lifetime” - for some people, their entire lifetimes have been spent in a state of economic crisis.
I remember the talk about "stagflation" in the 1970s, though I was too young to really understand it. The boom economy that started in the 1980s crashed in 2000. I remember that well as I lost my job. In 2008 I was working in the public sector and my employment was unaffected, I also didn't have any mortgages with stupid terms, and didn't need any of my retirement investments yet so I just rode that one out. So a recession in 2022, especially given the past two years, is maybe a bit early but not really surprising.
Recessions aren’t once in a lifetime?
> I'm tired of the world insisting that every company must be growing in order to be valuable
They don’t. It’s just the growth companies don’t pay dividends
> and then when growth stagnates, people ditch it to cause massive losses.
Because it’s price is speculation on future profits which would create future dividends
> Can we not just have moderate success?
Yeah
> Can we create a system that doesn't self implode every so often?
Not really, but we can make the implosions less severe
> Can we create a system where making money at all costs (including the decimation of the planet, the wage-slave workforce, and the engorging and toppling of governments through cronyism) isn't the the default?
No
> I have to remember that people are _generally_ good. I have faith in the next generation of leaders, thinkers, and doers. What will happen will happen, but I have hope that the youth who have seen wave after wave of "being at the brink" might be able to create a system where this isn't the norm.
Seems dubious to me. We will do better on some select issues but mostly otherwise the same