One of the internet tools I am learning to use is called Google Trends. When I opened the trend page today the number one search were the words “economic depression”. Not a pleasant topic that’s for sure but one that is definitely on peoples’ minds these days. Interestingly enough, at just about the same hour I did my search, Larry Summers, the top White House economic adviser, informed the public that Google searches for those words were down to “normal” volumes.
photo credit: kevindooley
Evidently the numbers had been up to four times today’s count earlier this year. Summers claims this shows a growth in consumer confidence. Others are less optimistic, one blogger says there is no need to search the web for it (economic depression) anymore, we can can find it “in our own pockets.”
My husband and I both retired this year. So far the Governor has been unsuccessful at tapping the state’s retirement programs so we are are luckily only tasked with adjusting to the anticipated lower income of our retirement benefits and higher prices, not unexpected cuts. However, we stopped back at our old office yesterday and heard that our employer was making major cuts (again) in the budget. These were even more severe that those that had been made in the two years before we retired. Vital positions were not going to be filled. Wrecked vehicles were not going to be replaced and budgeted contracts might be canceled.
Other friends and family who work for the state are facing involuntary furloughs, pay cuts and/or lay offs. In spite of the government bailouts to the mortgage companies, bank repos and short sales still abound. If the economy is on the upswing it has not yet become evident.
So where does all this doom and gloom leave us? Personally I found inspiration and enlightenment from a fictional novel by Terri Blackstock entitled Dawn’s Light. The story revolves around a family facing the total melt down of life as we know it when solar pulses stop everything electrical or mechanical. Cars become useless. TVs, phones, and even more critical, life saving medical devises will no longer function. Survival takes on a new meaning as does the word Faith.
Yes, it’s only a novel but the lessons can be applied to the challenges we are facing in the real world. As the economic upheaval brings major changes in the lives of millions we are all brought back to the basics. Food, shelter, family and our beliefs or the foundation on which our life is based. Keeping a roof over our family’s heads and food in their stomach becomes the daily challenge that much of the world has always had to focus on. The only change is that now we share the challenge with the more undeveloped countries of the world.
