"The world economy is hitting a bump in the road, but is not anywhere near a crash.
Interest rates are still near historic lows (around 6%), unemployment is still realtively low (under 6%), consumers are still spending money, banks are stable, imports and exports are still flowing, no one is starving in the streets (at least in most democratic countries), and people are still free to cut their spending, and follow the jobs.
The world economy is adjusting to higher energy prices, and that adjustment is going pretty well - painful, but nothing near a crash.
And just like most recent times, there is still more opportunity now than there has been at any time in the past.
Still, if you want to take precautions, do this:
1. Reduce unneccesary spending - don't go buy a Rolex watch or a huge bass boat or other big ticket item you could really live without.
2. Cut your monthly overhead - look at your lifestyle, and reduce those extravagances that you really don't need.
3. Create new streams of income - diversify your income sources so if one stream dries up, you'll have another.
4. Invest in tools and training - acquiring tools and skills which will help you make better products, create more services, will help you build a stronger future
5. Don't panic - understand that about 90% of what you hear on the news is not real news, but is psychological warfare with one goal in mind - to give you a reason to continue to listen to the news - and be in fear of missing something.
If you check back on the major news panic stories of the past 8 years, you'll see that they got almost everything wrong. Everything.
So don't panic. Continue to create products, continue to market them.
We are no where near a economic crash."
Bill Myers
