I came across an article on Fox News' website which I think describes the best way to ride out this financial crises. Glenn Beck compared the current economic melt down to a forest fire. Here are a couple of quotes from his article. He can be a little harsh but sometimes the truth hurts.
"The government is acting just like those stupid environmentalists who don't understand that forest fires are natural and are actually good for the soil."
"Letting the greedy, the corrupt and the downright stupid fail will replenish the soil of capitalism and give us the chance to rebuild the right way."
I just can't understand how our government can act the way they do. Will they just let it burn? No they won't, they can't. I don't think that the majority of Americans even understand our economy or our financial system well enough to know what to do. Nor would they have the slightest idea on what caused this mess. They are too busy blaming political parties and other nonsense that really has little to do with the issues at hand. Fundamentally or system is flawed. But what are the politicians going to do. They can't let all of those innocent and and not so innocent people burn along with the forest? No they couldn't the people wouldn't stand for it. And elite of the world (who are behind the majority of the mess) won't let it burn either.
To me these bailouts seem nothing more than welfare for the rich. The even sadder part about it all is that those in power say that is all to protect "main street". I guess when you have the stupid corrupt greedy people with all the money running the show (or at least pulling the string for those running the show) what else could you expect.
Well you can complain all you want, point fingers at the government, and write angry hateful posts on your blog all day long, but will it really won't help much. It won't "change" anything. So what do we do personally on a micro level? Well for starters you steer clear of the philosophies and methodologies that got us in this mess. A debt based financial system truly is like a house of cards, a big bubble ready to burst, a house build on a really sandy beach on the edge of a cliff. Here is a list of things I believe we can do to help our personally situations. Because I don't think that we can make much change on the macro level...well not true if everyone did the stuff on this list then you might see some change.
- Avoid debt like the plague- The "need it now mentality" and "play now, pay later" way of living just won't cut it anymore.
- Eliminate the wasteful activities- So much of what we do and so much of what we buy is pointless. We don't need those thing.
- Be a steward over your own finances and belongings- It is important to take care of what you have been given along with what you have earned.
- Budget- Don't let spending get out of control. Just by evaluating what you spent you will see an improvement in your bottom line.
- Be a producer not a consumer- Create a personal surplus of trade. Export more value that you consume.
- Educate you self continually- Make yourself more valuable. Make yourself more capable.
- Be Prepared-Ya I am an Eagle Scout. Look ahead and try to see what is coming and adapt.
- Be positive-I am tire of all the doom and gloom. Yes it is bad, but it does no good to be negative.
In the comments below give me some more ideas that we all can do to improve our personal financial situation. Tell me what you think about mine list of ideas.
Here is a link to the full article by Glenn Beck
Controlled Burn: Treat Financial Crisis Like Forest Fire
1 comment:
Glenn Beck?
He begins by referring to some sort of mythical "stupid environmentalists who don't understand that forest fires are natural and are actually good for the soil."
Who are these environmentalists? Perhaps I only hang around 'smart environmentalist' crowds, cuz I have yet to have heard of any 'environmentalists' who think as he thinks they do.
Furthermore, Beck overly simplifies his forest fire scenario to make his point. If you talk to a real environmentalist (and not one of the chimeras he has talking to him from underneath his bead), you will hear that the problem is not in the forest fires, but in the years of poor forest management that has not allowed small natural fires to burn away small brush and trees, and instead have allowed small growth in forests to become too dense which causes (what should be small fires) to burn too strong and destroy larger trees which would normally survive small fires.
A real environmentalist (as opposed to those in Beck's fantasy - which he all too often confuses with reality), would likely say that the best way to deal with forests is NOT to let forest fires just burn, but is to use (governmental agencies, such as the NFS) to plan and implement controlled burns. These government-controlled burns are better for both the natural environment and for human and state interests.
But of course reality would not work well with Beck's argument, so he doesn't mention (or know of) these things.
Perhaps, like forest fires, the best thing is to not let our economy burn. In an ideal situation it might be best, but after years of mismanagement, letting it just burn might just destroy far more than we can allow.
I like what you have to say about our own finances Jake; why taint it with Beck's nonsense?
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