The Greater Depression

During the Great Depression of the 1930’s, the world’s economy was the worst people had ever known. 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.

Why Is This Depression Worse Than 1929?

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 AIN’T GONNA 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 $14 TRILLION.  As a comparison, 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 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, crime rates etc.)

What To Expect

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, 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. Crime rates will go through the roof.

12. Taxes will go up, and up and UP

13. Fines (speeding and otherwise) will increase exponentially

What To Do

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.

The single biggest change (assuming WWIII doesn’t happen) is that large corporations are likely to outsource their work to individuals working from home (like YOU).   This means that there is going to be a huge market for people who can work independently, and offer cost effective solutions to these companies.

There will also be a massive growth in independent coaching and eduction programs, filling a much needed gap in the current education system, which simply won’t be able to keep up (it’s already failing now).

Quality

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 I really like it.

Luke.