The Greatest Depression is Happening Now!
Until now that is! I hardly ever get depressed, even in these horrific economic times.
For some reason (probably genetic) I can just about always see either the funny side of things, or the positive aspects of everything.
However (don't you just hate when people say that?! It kind of negates everything they've just said!), I want you to be prepared for the coming years so that you can survive and prosper.
Okay, the world leaders are STILL calling this a recession but that's obviously not true.
They KNOW it's a depression, but they think they can talk their way out of it, like they do most things.
That simply isn't going to happen! Here are the reasons that this Depression is going to be worse than The Great Depression.
1.
Most people didn't own their own homes: this means that they didn't OWE thousands of dollars.
2.
Most people didn't live off of credit cards: there WERE NO CREDIT CARDS, so they didn't have to pay high interest charges.
3.
The U.
S.
budget was balanced (even during the Great Depression).
Now the U.
S.
owes more than $14 TRILLION.
As a comparison, at one mile per second, 14 trillion miles would take TWO YEARS for light to travel that distance! So, the U.
S.
owes a LOT of money.
4.
There were far fewer people in the U.
S.
in 1930 - only 123 million, compared to 310 million now (most of whom are in debt).
5.
In the early 1900's, the U.
S.
had a trade surplus every year.
Now they are getting owe BILLIONS EXTRA each and every year.
6.
In the 1930's, the U.
S.
was a MANUFACTURING country.
Now it's a consumer country.
7.
In the early 1900's, the U.
S.
monetary system was backed by gold.
Now it isn't.
8.
Finally, in the 1930's, the U.
S.
was a developing country.
Now it's descending (look at healthcare, education etc.
) None of us knows for certain where all of this poor financial management of the world will lead, however, here's what I think we can expect.
1.
Repair shops will do well (automobiles, appliances etc.
) as people will keep what they already own, working.
2.
Home defense and the personal defense industry will boom, as will the sale of weapons and ammunition.
3.
Education will boom, but in the hard sciences only, not Art History or Psychology etc.
4.
Bicycles sales will sky-rocket.
5.
Alternative medicine will increase and be more accepted by regular MD's.
6.
Public Road Transport will increase.
7.
Airline travel will decrease as more people tele-commute on their computers.
8.
Used product stores will do well (Goodwill etc.
).
9.
The underground economy will boom (scary stuff!).
10.
Recession Gardens will become increasingly popular (I'm glad I have a large backyard!).
11.
Riots 12.
Massive increase in crime 13.
Food will become scarce and therefore very expensive (because demand will be greater than supply) While there can be no absolute answer, the things to do would be to LEARN how to be self-supporting as much as possible.
This means both with money and food.
Learn how to protect yourself, your home, your possessions.
There are many free resources online which will explain in detail how to make your home difficult to enter, and you can always ask your local law-enforcement officers to advise you.
Concentrate on buying quality products that will last longer and ONLY PRODUCE QUALITY products for your customers.
This is critical.
While many people will continue to buy poor quality because it's cheaper, doing this is almost always a false economy.
Poor quality ANYTHING, usually doesn't last, and you end-up buying the same thing again the following year (or in the case of a pair of tennis shoes I once bought, six MONTHS later!!).
Attack the future, before it attacks you! I don't know who originally said this, but its meaning couldn't possibly be more appropriate than in this current economic meltdown.