SELLING GLOOM AND DOOM

So, are we facing a major global economic depression?  Are zombies going to break down your door and eat you?  Will there be a nuclear holocost?  World War III?  Another ice age?  It's all out there, you know - those predictions about gloom and doom - and I'm not buying any of it.  And that's exactly what the sellers of goom and doom want because it is for sale, and they make big bucks from it.  Selling it is profitable because there's a lot of negative thought out there, and for good reason.  I'm not fully aware of what's going on elsewhere, but here in America, there's some cause for alarm when it comes to some of the gloom and doom prophecies.  Forget the zombies, nuclear war, solar flareups, floods or any other catastrophe that wipes out entire nations.  That ain't gonna happen.  But all of us should worry some about what could happen, and a severe economic downturn is a distinct possibility.

I'm not likely to take to heart a book predicting a major economic depression written by someone who's likely to profit from it.  But there's still food for thought there, especially the criticisms of how our government handles the economy.  So I read articles in Forbes that says all the gloom and doom stuff is off base, that it's just not worth consideration, and they cite all the statistics to the contrary.  And most of those statistics are produced by government agencies eager to sell their fix to the problem of a sagging economy, and we all know that government is often a poor source for that because they've been known to "cook the books" a little.  All this leaves the interested bystanders like me wondering just who can be believed . . . if anyone.  It makes you wonder if anyone involved in managing the economy knows what they're doing.  Don't look to big businesses for the answer because they're notorious for mismanaging their own companies.  Can you believe the top economists?  If you read that stuff, look for the books written by real scholars, not hacks.

With all the misinformation out there about the economy and what's the best course of action to take, there's at least a few things normal people can do to prepare for the future.  Government and business concerns are going to keep pumping you full of crapola intended to get you to spend.  If you don't spend, they don't prosper, and so a certain amount of spending is good for all of us.  My plan is to keep spending because I must in order to survive, but I plan to spend wisely.  If you're going to buy books about gloom and doom, buy the ones that offer some reasonable suggestions about how to survive during hard times.  Some of them might be worth reading.  And if you really believe what you read, do something about it.  Preparation is always a smart thing.