How to Survive Our Current Depression

18. December 2008 by admin.

I hope I don’t get into trouble for copying some of Robert Ringer’s work without asking permission.  I figure if I give him full credit, he can’t get too upset.  I am currently reading his article on Inflation and Deflation (It can be found at http://www.robertringer.com/inflation-or-deflation.html).

The following made me laugh, not because it is funny, it’s not.  I often laugh at things that are very true and frightening at the same time, partly to help ease the shock and the fear and partly because I don’t know of any other way to react.  Here it is:

        “Remember, government has only three ways to pay for its unconstitutional expenditures:

          It can print fiat currency; it can borrow; it can tax. Printing dollars leads to an increase in

          prices, which lowers everyone’s standard of living. Higher taxes lead to more unemployment,

          less money saved and invested, and a slowdown in the economy. Borrowing leads to …

          well, I guess it ultimately leads to having to learn Chinese.”

Well, I’ve just finished reading all my back issues of Robert Ringer’s “Voice of Sanity” emails and I am left hungry for more.  I guess it would be in my best interest to be like everyone else and keep my head buried in the mud and hope that our Recession (actually Depression) is over before I need to come up for air.  But I didn’t think I could hold my breath that long so on I read.

Now I can get back to figuring the best way to get money back into my savings account and to pay off the debts I have accumulated since I foolishly left my high paying and boring slave job to strike out on my own.

I have heard it said many times that one needs to specialize more and more in order to make a great living.  Don’t just become a brain surgeon, become a brain surgeon for left brain thinkers.  Well, I disagree with that philosophy, especially in our current economy.  I consider myself a “jack of all trades, yet the master of none” and it is helping me to pay my bills. One job I took on was being the handyman for a horse farm.  Horses are always destroying things just because of their size.

I am able to fix and repair just about anything, including plumbing and electrical things.  That and the fact that I am very resourceful and look for ways to do things better and cheaper make me an ideal candidate for this type of work.  Plus I love being able to figure out how to fix something with the meager tool selection I have.

So I spend some of my month doing repairs and the rest of my month trying to figure out what I want to do when I grow up.  I believe I now know what I want to do; I just need to get busy and do it.  Of course it always helps if I have money coming in to pay my bills and allow me a few simple pleasures.

Oh, and another thing, I am very good at managing my money and do not tend to live above my income.  However, due to several high risk investments I do find myself temporarily unable to pay off my credit cards each month.  I figured out a short term fix for that by taking out zero or very low interest loans to pay off some credit cards.  That bought me about 10 months to get caught up.

So, back to the main theme of this article, “How to Survive Our Current Depression”.  Perhaps I shouldn’t have used the term “Depression” because that scars people.  Well, you should be scared.  It took our government a long time to finally call our situation a “Recession”.  So don’t expect them to use the “Depression” word any time in the near future.  However, historians will call it what it is.  So if you can hang around long enough you can read about the “Great Depression II”.

In order to make it through the next several years standing on our own two feet, we need to think outside the box.  We need to shake off our old comfort zone mentality and face our world with a smile every day.  We MUST spend less than we make and we must look for more ways to make more money.  After all there is no shortage of money in the world; there is only a shortage of belief.  Everyone can be millionaires and there will still be plenty to go around.  So start thinking like a millionaire.

Use the Internet for what it was originally intended for, to research, gain knowledge and then put that knowledge to work and share that knowledge with others.  Also be sure to use it for what it is now beginning to be used for and that is networking, building relationships of trust and friendships.  Through these relationships we can provide help and support to others.

Well, I need to take a break.  I will write more on this later.

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