"I think the best insight into the future is to study the past."

You are totally correct. Everything that is happening now has happened before. Our government is attempting to 'fix' the problem using the same backwards, ineffective methods that Hoover and Roosevelt used back in the 30s and early 40s. They didn't work then, and they won't work now. Instead of fixing the economy, they are attempting to bulldoze their way by trying to change the results (unemployment, bank failures, housing foreclosures).

Unfortunately, the people of the Great Depression lived closer to the land than now, with about a third of the population living on farms. In 1935 there were nearly 7 million farms, spread all over, but now there are fewer than 2.5 million in centralized areas and trucked about 1,000 miles -- heavily dependent on fossil fuels and infrastructure.

If we end up in a 'Greater' Depression, the results are going to be mind-boggling, and I'll bet the death rate from starvation is going to be tremendous.

As I see it:
1) Do your best to keep your home, or be prepared to create one, even if you have to move your family/friends into an abandoned one.
2) Learn to grow at least some of your own food. There is a fairly steep learning curve on this, it's best you get started now. Encourage your neighbors to do the same, with different crops, then trade. Plan food harvesting and year-round storing.
3) Check out rainwater harvesting and storing.
4) Keep everything crossed: fingers, toes, eyes.

Sue