Preparation Not Panic is the Answer to the Troubled Economic Times Ahead
NEW YORK (CNN) — Despite the best efforts of our politicians to convince us otherwise, there is no easy way out of the financial crisis we’ve created.
Gimmicks and Band-Aids won’t solve the underlying problem; they just delay its impact until after the election. While that might help politicians keep their jobs, it won’t help you and me keep ours.
A lot of us saw what was coming before the dam broke. We didn’t need fancy graphs or prize-winning economists to warn us. We just used common sense. But now that same common sense is now telling us something else: Every action has an equal and opposite reaction.
We can’t print billions of new dollars and expect there to never be a consequence for it down the road. We can’t unwind a bubble built on historic levels of greed by simply writing a check or passing a law.
Preparation, not panic.
Things could get really bad before they get better. Really, really bad. But you’ll never know what’s coming by watching the Dow every day — it’s a terrible indicator. In fact, the four largest percentage gains in the Dow’s history happened between 1929 and 1933, a period that wasn’t exactly a great time to buy.
The chorus of Billy Joel’s famous song about the Vietnam War still rings true today: We will all go down together.
What we’re experiencing right now are the outer bands of a hurricane with an eye that likely won’t hit us for another year or two. In the meantime, there will be plenty of sunny days, but they’ll just distract us from what’s coming. Stay focused on what your gut tells you is still churning just offshore.
When the eye of the storm finally comes ashore, nothing will be less relevant than whether you’re a registered Democrat or Republican. It didn’t matter during Pearl Harbor, the Cuban Missile Crisis or Oklahoma City, and I certainly don’t remember anyone asking to see a voter ID card before they gave you a hug on 9/11.
If September 11 was the worst day in American history, then September 12 was one of the best. Do you remember what it was like? Lines at blood banks; filled-up churches; neighbors watching out for each other; families sitting around the dinner table and talking to each other.
It was the America we all long for — and we can have it back. But if you’re waiting for another historic crisis to convince you to put the donkeys and elephants aside and reconnect with each other, then open your eyes; we’re in the middle of it.