OK, let's be honest here, Bush has single handedly destroyed the economy and driven the country into chaos.
He started by bankrupting the treasury, pouring billions and billions of dollars into the Iraq war and Homeland security. Since these were investments with no tangible return, this directly affected the value of the dollar which has now plummeted to 50% of its previous value in only 5 years. The devaluation of the dollar made for soaring house prices which led people into loans they couldn't afford which brought on the housing crisis. Now house prices are plummeting because no one can buy a house which means no one can sell a house, so the one place where we could buffer ourselves against the plummeting dollar has also disappeared leaving us broke, in debt, and with out equity.
Today with gas prices through the roof due to de-regulation (Enron, you were 5 years too early! You'd be so rich now if you'd just held on!), we have rampant inflation through out the food chain of the US economy. Everything will cost more, but here's the kicker... we won't charge more for our services because no one can pay... and we're a SERVICE economy! We don't manufacture anything anymore... but our fees won't go up, only the price of goods will. Unions used to hold prices for labor steady, but individuals will undercut each other to death until services have no value at all (look at musicians still playing coffee shops for $100 a gig, or god forbid, tips... which is less than they charged in 1978).
Wow! So the $64K question (adjusted for inflation) is this: What strategies can we find to take advantage of this chaos? In chaos comes opportunity. What value can we provide here? It's more critical than ever.
It seems like eating locally is going to be required. How will we be able to afford grapes from Chile or any food that has to be trucked 1000's of miles? Self-sustaining family farms appear to be a requirement imho. Saving your seeds for the following year, cultivating crops, literally growing beans and rice, canning your home grown vegetables, raising your own chickens. Skills none of us have anymore.
Fascinating times. Will Obama (or anyone) be the new Delanor Roosevelt? Are we headed into 12 years of depression? Is there a new Black Friday on the horizon this October? It all feels remarkably possible doesn't it?
And yet, why am I feeling so amazingly chipper? I mean, I am in the greatest mood today! It's like my body knows something my brain hasn't caught up with yet. There's an opportunity here, and that really excites me. Time to blaze trails. I'm totally invigorated by it all.
:-)