Surviving the Next Great Depression
by James Buchanan
Having George Bush in charge of the economy is like putting Nero in charge of flammable materials. The economic treason started with Bush’s father, continued with Clinton and is accelerating with George W. Bush. The so-called free trade treaties NAFTA, GATT and CAFTA are using slave labor in the Third World to replace American factory workers. Literally millions of manufacturing jobs have been outsourced. But why should the Robber Barons stop with replacing the working class? Today, the process of replacing millions of college-educated workers is well underway. The only thing keeping our economy going is massive military spending, which is being done by running up the National Debt, which stands at an astonishing 8.3 trillion dollars. Eventually we will reach a point where the National Debt can’t be run up anymore, the Defense spending will have to be cut back and then there will be a massive recession if not depression.
A little common economic common sense can save people from this inevitable disaster. It’s possible to get through life with little -if any- borrowing. It used to be common for people to work their way through school instead of automatically taking student loans. Buy a used car instead of a new car. Buy furniture at Wal-Mart or yard sales. Don’t get a credit card. You don’t need the temptation. Many people are able to make it through life with just a debit card.
Imagine a financial disaster so severe, that you have to survive the next five years on what you have in the bank. If you’ve paid off your house, then you’re in great shape. All you need to do now is save as much money as possible while you still have a job. If you’re close to paying off your house, then do so as soon as possible. If you are years away from paying off your house, you should seriously consider selling it while the real estate market is still good. The worst scenario would be to lose your job, fail to make your mortgage payments and be forced to sell your house at the same time millions of other Americans suffer the same fate. Let’s say you paid $300,000 for your house, and you were only able to sell it for $225,000 as the economy went into a tailspin. You would be out of work, minus a house and you would suddenly be $75,000 in debt.
Don’t buy an overpriced house in or near a big city. It’s actually better to rent than to buy at this strange point in time. The coming Depression will strike long before you can pay off a $400,000 mortgage. If the Depression strikes in two years time and you lose your big city job, you can walk away from the expensive big city apartment and you’ll still have all the money you were able to save. An old house in a small town can cost as little as $50,000. An individual who is able to save $60,000 will be able to buy a house and have enough money left for years of utility payments and food. Another possibility is to buy a rural property and an old RV. This is possibly the cheapest way to own the ground under your feet.
We are facing the mother of all financial disasters in the near future thanks to decades of crooked political leadership. America could transform from a First World nation to a Third World economy literally overnight. Every patriotic American should take steps now to prepare for this disaster.
The economic disaster will likely develop like the big recession of the early ’90s. Wave after wave of lay offs will put millions of Americans out of work. There probably won’t be a sudden stock market crash or panic. Because of reforms instituted after the First Great Depression, individual bank accounts are insured to $100,000 each. There shouldn’t be a “run on banks.” Considering that most Americans don’t have any money in their bank accounts, they don’t have anything to withdraw. If someone wants to be extra-paranoid and keep their money in a mattress or gold bricks in a safe, then fine. It’s always a good idea to have canned food and guns -just in case things deteriorate to a New Orleans style disaster.
The best course of action to survive the coming economic collapse is to own some inexpensive real estate and to have a lot of money in the bank. Don’t buy that new car. Don’t blow four grand on a plasma TV. Don’t buy the latest notebook computer, cell phone or other needless gadget. Live as frugally as possible. Save as much as possible. And plan ahead for the disaster. The more prepared you are, the less you’ll have to suffer because of those two-party crooks.
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June 21st, 2007 at 7:08 am
I came across your site while Googling “depression survival.” I’d like to throw in a few things if I may: gardening, hunting, fishing, and generally learning to practice kitchen frugality–this means learning and practicing home economics (you know, the stuff they quit teaching when the microwave came out).
If you or anyone else were to go to “frugal living” websites, you can learn more about how millions of us are already (sort of) ready to survive the coming depression–topics are even covered until they’re driven into the ground and the hole barked at. I myself covered a number of these topics in the early days of my blog.
We frugalites learned long ago that to make it intact is to be debt-free, money-smart, and to make it from scratch yourself if possible.
It’s tough to see so many young adults in so much debt, and much of it needless, due to knee-jerk reactions to desire, poor money management skills, and an over-reliance on convenience. I suppose they’ll learn yet another lesson the hard way–as if bankruptcy isn’t enough!
After the depression is over, they’ll come out the other side as better adults–hell, we’ll ALL come out as other people. Who knows what else this coming depression will bring afterward? Look at all the wonderful things that came after the LAST one!
I can’t wait to find out–maybe there will be a true solution to the oil thing, and energy consumption in general. Maybe obesity will become a thing of the past, all will pretty much all disease. Maybe a cure for Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s will be forthcoming. Hell, maybe we’ll get back into space.
People may look at the coming times as a looming disaster. I see a giant slate-clearing and hope for the future.