好久不用

It has been so long since I have done much with this. I am working on getting my business set up and going.

Economic Crisis Cause 1: Consumer Credit Craze

People are extending their lifestyles more and more. Kids have more toys, teens have video games, and adults just have more high end things. How did people do it? Credit. People take out credit for houses, cars, and Christmas. Credit actually closes the gap on poverty. Much like building a home without a foundation and sometimes without support beams. When the collective economic and financial support of individuals and families fail so does that of the nation.

Lets take a very simple illustration to explain why credit has killed our economy. Understand, economics is much more complicated so this does simplify things a lot. Lets say we started with a population that hasn't borrowed any money and over the course of a few years they start borrowing money to buy all the things they wanted. Suddenly there is a burst of money thrust into the economy and all industries are affected. We would call this time a boom. During which companies expand spending themselves more and more some getting investment dollars. As things expand unemployment rates decrease and salaries increase as qualified employees become more in demand and harder to find. These higher salaries cause inflation and more and more people borrow more and more some beyond their means lulled into a false sense of security by the thriving economy this causes more growth with brief dips. Suddenly a few years into this people start cutting back to pay off their credit cards and spending dips. As spending dips a few companies go under because they forcasted a boom and expanded, suddenly they have to be cutting back. and they lose a lot of money because they have invested in store fronts, employees, and other physical things that would be earning money during a boom time but are now weight. These few companies cut back and many go under. This means the loss of many jobs. People who lost their jobs can't spend much at all even less than those that are just in debt and paying it back. So spending is not just down from those in debt and those who are unemployed but also those companies that cut back or went under are spending much less. These factors cause other companies to get hit hard and suddenly we are in economic crisis.

Though my example showed this happening very quickly over maybe 5-6 years, this has been happening in the US starting in the late 70's at a much slower rate than in the example. We hit the starting of the downturn in the late 90's even before Bush came to office. That has been building to put us in our current situation. The rich are getting richer and everybody else has gotten poorer. Though major companies are going under, those that run them are not. Even banks who allowed this to happen out of greed, there heads are still millionaires. Nonetheless we did this to ourselves.

Lessons to learn. Live within your means. Don't borrow anything except things that will put more money in your pocket or bring security to your life. Borrowing to buy a house is ok only if that house is within your means meaning the monthly payment is more than affordable and the interest rate is good. Save and invest money. I am not going to tell you how to invest in this article, but save about 3-12 months of money at least. This money is to live off of if you lose your job or have a medical problem that impairs employment or just puts a dent in your finances. From there take a portion of your salary to invest assuming you have time to search out good investments. This money should be something you are willing to lose in case you pick a bad investment. Final lesson to learn, don't be lazy. Go the extra mile at work. Pay attention to what is happening in the world and learn good financial sense. In general keep educated as the world changes.

We must start taking responsibility for the economic crisis we are in and change. Stop blaming the government and expecting them to solve our problems. They do not have the power to change things if we don't change. Unfortunately politicians can't elected if they rebuke the public openly and they won't tell us that they have little power to fix things. We have the power and we must have hope and courage to stand up and face our problems. If we take responsibility for these issues and not blame the government and corporations we can change our current situation.

Do not resort to fear

We are all worried about the continual collapse of the world economy. Consumers have overspent and went into debt to have what they want now. Banks have also overextended greedy for the enormous interest payments. People then paying too much in interest cut back spending which then caused a cut back in jobs and salary increases, because companies were making as much. We as a whole may have done this to ourselves but the fight to survive is not over. As we get out of debt, we should hope for a better future. Otherwise our fears will get the best of us becoming self-fulfilling prophecies that will definitely defeat us. Fear is thus our biggest enemy and is what the adversary uses to control us. Let's use our free agency to help one another and turn this around.

Temperance

I believe this is a subject that is not often addressed nowadays. I am reading a book about success written in the early 20th century. In the book it talks about avoiding intemperance. I was not even sure what intemperance meant. In today's world many people have become slaves to emotion, addiction, and physical cravings. They often tell themselves that it doesn't hurt anyone and that no one should tell them what they can or can't do. People are over extending themselves in order to have big houses many cars and avoid waiting for anything they can have right now despite the exponential cost. All we really need is food, shelter, and clothing. Keeping this in mind is essential to temperance. I believe temperance will guide us through these financially trying times.

life hasn't turned out as planned.

I was reading an article from the Ensign and felt it applied well for me.

Mary N. Cook, “Looking to the Lord,” Ensign, Sep 2008, 62–64


I always thought that by now I would be married and with at least 3 children. Because I am not there yet, at times it has been hard to trust in the Lord. Yet I have had many amazing experiences that have taught me so much. Through obedience I have learned to trust the Lord. I know that he knows what is best for me. It is still hard at times, because my desire to be married and have a family of my own is so strong. I was told to start looking from the time I got home from a mission. I was told I would be inspired to know who is right for me. Though hard at times, I am determined to follow that inspiration. Many times I have wanted to date someone but forbidden by the spirit. I think following inspiration to date someone is even harder. What do I do if she rejects me or isn't so sure about me. My life has been amazing. I have learned so much and I am so grateful to the Lord for all the experiences I have had.