Recently in both the United States and in Europe things have been tough for the average consumer.
In many places there are still struggles to recover from the economic downturn, and other places are just now hitting the bottom of the market.
People have placed blame on a lot of different ideas and sources for these hardships.
Prices continue to rise and things just do not seem to be getting better for many.
Yet with all these hardships and struggles that we face there is a light at the end of the tunnel you might say.
This by far is not the first time economies have collapsed and I am sure it will not be the last.
It is just the natural way things work in a market based on credit and imaginary wealth.
We and many others have faced these issues on a daily basis.
Only occasionally do things reach a point where entire economies are affected.
The thing is; we brought this on ourselves! Some people want to blame the huge companies like Goldman Sachs or Lehman Brothers but when you face reality it is the average consumer that caused the downfall of our economy and many others worldwide! Let us be honest with ourselves and admit that we have tended to spend what we really did not have to spend and failed to plan ahead for hard times.
Sure it is true that many people were affected by other people's failures and a domino effect occurred.
In reality though most of the hardships we have faced have been brought about by our own greed and the easy use of credit.
Yet despite all the hardships we have faced we are still thriving and recovery has began.
Then there is another thing to consider.
A look at some other markets from around the world.
Markets like the Philippines and South Africa! In these places you would almost never know that the world is having difficulties financially.
For example; despite that many consider the Philippines as a third world country and there is still a high poverty level the market there itself is booming! More people than ever before are finding solid jobs that pay well and the construction boom of new condos and apartments has doubled and tripled in many areas.
Of course some of this is attributed to large foreign companies bringing more work to the Philippines due to lower operating costs.
Much of the reason behind the growth and success in the Philippines though is due to a strict and strong credit market.
It has been extremely difficult to get credit for most people there.
As a result banks and financial institutions are strong and have weathered the economic downturn with a certain degree of protection.
Maybe we can learn a lesson from some of our third world friends.
It has always been our pride to think of ourselves as leaders in the world economy.
This has had a long standing history of success as well.
The forces and strengths of our economy has changed though.
It is no longer based on solid industry and true product values.
Instead it is almost entirely based on credit; and while credit has certainly propelled us into prosperity; hidden dangers developed! Due to our reliance on credit here in the United States as well as elsewhere in the world we developed a sense of miss-founded security.
We thought we were safe from troubles thinking that we could just push through any struggles by relying on credit.
We now know this can never work much to our chagrin.
Maybe now we can look at the examples of those places like the Philippines and strengthen ourselves just as they have no doubt learned from our failures.
Whatever we may face in an uncertain world we just need to remember to never count our eggs before they hatch as the old proverb goes.
Basically we just need to think ahead to both the good and the bad and prepare! In this way if things spiral out of control again we can better face the difficulties and the impact on the average consumer will be minimal!