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Current mood:  tired Category: Life
Okay - so this hasn't been the best year on record.... so far I've yet to talk to anyone that says this year has been very good to them. However, it is December and we're about to turn the page on another year. Hopefully 2009 will be a better year than 2008 was. Or maybe 2010 will be... Thing is - no one knows. The economy is in big time trouble and I wonder if all the bailouts in the world are actually going to fix things in the near future. Or will we have to go through a very dark time before we can get things back under control? Every day the stock market bounces around like a yo-yo on steriods and more people get the word that indeed - their jobs might be going away. Are we headed for a depression? Is deflation on the horizon? You won't hear the economists say those words... heck they won't say recession and now we find out we've been in one of those for a year already.
I suspected the economy was in trouble a few years back. I was doing art shows regularly, talking to tons of people all the time. The first year I did art shows - thing were good, customers were out in force, carrying packages of newly aquired art... the second year, not so good... people were out but not so many buying... by the next summer, crowds were decent but sales were nearly non existant. I took it as a huge warning sign - art sales are very much dependant on extra funds not need any where else. True, the very rich will always buy art and the established artists they support should do pretty decent. But the up and coming artist or the ones that appeal to the young and not so established tend to feel it first. I stopped doing art shows at the point that I was just barely breaking even. Fortunately it was not my main source of income.
Fast forward to today and for the last several months - the news has been anything but good. The housing industry is in the toilet, the auto industry is just about there as well, job losses have taken over the news and the stock market has gobbled up a huge chunk of everyones retirement funds.
So what do we do? What can we do - really? Well, priority number one is food... we must feed our families, we need food in our belly in order to work and take care of the things that need taking care of. Many years ago, in the very early 90's I was laid off from my job at a time that was very hard to find work. I was in and out of work for about a year and a half before I decided to join the marine corps. Let me tell you - when it comes down to deciding between a roof over your head and food in your belly - food wins. If your able, my advice to anyone and everyone is - start stocking up on food. Get things that are on sale, with a long shelf life. Even if you can only devote $10 a week towards extra - start doing it now. Most can good have a two year shelf life - more than enough to see you through most bad times. Stock up on multi-vitamins in case you get to a point that your not eating very well. Water is very critical for any situation - even a power outage. You can keep it in 2 liter bottles or gallon jugs or anything heavy and food safe. Prepare yourself for the possiblity that someone you care about might need to come live with you for a time. If you start cutting back and planning ahead before you need too - what is the harm? There is none - at worst you could end up in a better position than you are today. If things do go badly and your prepared - your that much further ahead of the game. Not only is the economy a problem but there are natural disasters and power outages to consider. When hurricane Ike hit this year one of the common things I read was people saying they under estimated the amount of water they needed.
Think about the things you would need if the power went out in your area for two weeks and you needed to stay in your home rather than at a hotel or with relatives. What if that heppened in the deep of winter? Or the dog days of summer? Here in St Louis, we had both happen just a couple years ago. A feirce July storm with high winds knocked out power to many folks for over a week. The following winter an ice storm had the same effect. Point is - it can happen anywhere and to anyone. Isn't it time you prepared yourself and your family - just in case?
3:40 AM
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