Well, what happens in a economic depression is that you lose your job, then having no money you lose your house, car, etc. There have been some economic recessions in america, but what happens during a recession, is nothing compared to what will soon happen. For example, recession proof jobs like working in a restaurant, will not survive when things get bad.
Signs of economic depression are that everybody is getting hit. For example, even police are let go. So life during the great depression is scary. Not only is crime higher, but there are no jobs. Therefore making money during a depression is hard since there are some good high paying jobs, but they pay very little and offer no security. To survive we need to produce our own food and be able to create our own power {solar, wind, etc.} so we can move on with out worry.