What Caused the Great Depression is NOW

Those who ignore history are doomed to repeat it
~ A Hooverville from the 1930’s

Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.
— George Santayana, 1863-1952

It is clear to me that the masses are not paying attention or they are being lulled by the media into believing what they want to believe.

The United States economy is NOT in a “recovery”. Nothing could be further from the truth as business owners can tell you. We are clearly in a DEPRESSION. The best way to understand why is to read the best REAL History of the United States I have seen.

The owners who are able to look up from their despair and see clearly in spite of their fear will realize it is NOT just them – it is the entire country! I know because I have friends across many niches and geographies.

How bad is it?  BAD! The input I get from businesses is supplemented by what Ron Cripps, a successful Affiliate Marketer who has made his living for years from marketing products for other businesses across many niches. What he knows benefits us all:

Sales are down over the past two years by roughly 60% across all niches and especially sales from the United States.

The economy is NOT affecting just SOME businesses; it is affecting almost ALL businesses. (There ARE ways to make YOUR business one of the exceptions. Ron and I are part of a team with specialized skills creating best practices to save as many businesses as we can. Contact us and we will offer guidance to all those we can. )

It is not affecting JUST business; it affects JOBS. In my previous post on How Word of Mouth Can Save Our Favorite Businesses I shared statistics that showed that 20% of Americans were already underemployed – many working 2 or even 3 jobs and making less than half what they once made: less money when food, utilities, gasoline and shelter cost more each day!

Unemployment statistics are lies intended to make things appear better than they are. They do not count those who have been out of work more than a certain amount of time. Nor do they count those who have given up looking. Do YOU know anyone who is unemployed and wants to work?

I do. 80% of my neighbors have already been laid off. My next door neighbor and his wife are BOTH laid off. None of these people has found full time work at any wage much less what they used to make. They get by with whatever side work they can find.

We all need a crash course in what is really going out starting with the fact that we are in what Paul Krugman calls The Third Depression. I share these resources to help those who are interested in taking action to survive what is coming:

• NEW: 23 Top Economists and Government Authorities Who Say We’re Headed To GLOBAL Depression in 2011
• The Alaska Standard: After America, there is No Place to Go ~ ALL AMERICANS MUST READ THIS!
• The Verdict is in: Obama is NOT FDR – How About Hoover? Or LBJ?
• Why the Greater Depression Still Lies Ahead ~ The cause of the Great Depression and the current issues is THE SAME!
• All Financial Matters on What Caused the Great Depression? How Goverment intervention always makes it WORSE – NOT BETTER
• Washington Examiner: Thomas Sowell: The Myth of How the Great Depression was Resolved
  
• Down and Out in the Great Depression: Letters from the Forgotten Man ~ Robert S. McElvaine
• NEW: How Wal-Mart is Destroying Our Economy, Why it is Bad for Business and everyone else – this is the best one-page overview of all the reasons we must stop shopping at WalMart – and what will happen if we don’t!

There will be many tough decisions to make. Those who act most quickly will be in far better shape. Consider all of these:

• Learn to cook real food instead of eating fast or convenience foods. You can buy a twenty pound bag of potatoes for about what ONE bag of potato chips costs! Do you know how many meals you can make with twenty pounds of potatoes?
• Stock up on staples like tea, salt, sugar, cinnamon and other spices, flour, corn meal, beans, rice and pasta.  Quick bread is EASY to make – ANYONE can do it. (Yeast bread is what takes so long and requires far more knowledge.) You can mix up cornbread or biscuit bread in five minutes and bake it in a toaster oven (cheaper and turns the heat off when the time is up so you don’t forget it!) Our new blog at PSPLiving will cover how to live simply but well. Buy a few staples whenever you have money and store them properly and you will not go hungry!
• Get that toaster oven out of the cupboard or buy one.  You can probably find one at a garage sale or second hand shop. It is less expensive to use a toaster oven and they shut themselves off so you don’t burn things or waste electricity – and they generate much less heat than your regular oven so your Air Conditioner won’t be running more and costing you.
• Use ceiling fans and natural breezes through screened windows to reduce your utilities. It can often be less expensive to heat or cool one room than your entire house (but if you have a forced air system DO NOT close the vents in one room – seems logical but that doesn’t work well). Consider installing awnings or exterior shutters – they can greatly change the temperature in your home or business.
• Find less expensive and healthier food sources by buying through your local Organic Food Co-op or CSA (Consumer Supported Agriculture).

If you are laid off or lose your home consider moving somewhere less expensive where you can grow your own food and raise chickens. The ideal location:

• Has soil that is healthy (to grow food)
• Not located near anything that leaches toxins (that will kill your garden, animals and eventually you!)
• Not in areas where foolish growers spray chemicals (what kills weeds will also kill your garden!) – You do NOT want to move where food is grown commercially – you want to move to rural areas where YOU can grow YOUR OWN food or buy it from others who do.
• Where there is an adequate water supply (water shortages are the next coming crisis in many states)
• Located ABOVE sources of pollution (i.e., at a higher altitude or in the mountains)
• Several hours away from any sizeable town or city (because hungry, desperate people will be taking what they need by force)
• Has high speed Internet access if you work online. See my post about HughesNet complaints for tips on how to find High speed point-to-point access from a Wireless Internet Service Providers (WISP). If none exists contact the closest WISPs to find out how many people they would need to expand to your area.

Losing your home or job may be a blessing in disguise if you take that opportunity to relocate to a safer area where you can grow food.

Many people do not realize that the cost of living can be as much as 70-80% less in areas that are too far to commute to a city. If you make your living online or have a skill you can offer to a community you DO NOT need to live in high cost areas – especially where hungry people will be roaming.

We want to hear YOUR story:

• Are you unemployed or underemployed? Are you still looking or have given up and just trying to get by with whatever money you can get?
• How long has it been since you lost your well-paying job that had benefits?
• What about your friends, family and neighbors?
• Are you having trouble making ends meet?
• Does food cost far more now but “stuff” costs ridiculously low prices?
• Have you started growing some of your own food or shopping locally?

Please leave your story in the comments of this post. Read and comment on others stories too. If you are a business use your comment to bring you more traffic and potential buyers by reading about how to use KeywordLuv and CommentLuv.

Tagged as: depression, economy, great depression, recession