Friends,

Wow, what a crazy reversal of fortunes for the US and World economies.  Yesterday’s plunge in the markets was exactly one year from the High the Dow Jones Industrial Average hit of just over 14,000. 

Now we sit at about Dow 8500 and with $3 TRILLION of US wealth wiped out.  Most of that happening in the last 30 days.  The effects of this are so far reaching that even the smartest economists in the world are baffled about what it really means to the world population.

Well here is a brief outline of what it means for me. 

Personal cash is tight.  My “stripped down” family budget currently is significantly larger than my income. 

MORE $ GOING OUT THAN COMING IN…NOT GOOD!

This means that I’m often relying on borrowing or retirement savings to keep the ball rolling.  This didn’t seem like a problem a year ago.  All the experts were saying that by Mid 2009 all would be well.  Housing values would start to climb again, the market would go back up, oil and gas prices would settle down, incomes would expand, businesses would return to profitably again, etc.  IT APPEARS THAT IS NOT GOING TO PAN OUT!

My businesses can’t get credit.  In the normal world, when a business needs a line of credit to smooth out cashflow they just go to the bank and ask for it.  I’ve approached 5 local banks, and non are willing to extend a little short term credit.  Even worse, the bank that I have my business loan with (with a 4 year PERFECT track record of paying on time) has asked that I try to refinance at another bank because they are trying to scale back their lending to restaurants.  (Thanks for the help, Mr. Banker)

SO WHY AM I OPITIMISTIC, YOU MIGHT ASK?

Well, there is one amazing asset that God has blessed me with, my ability to work!  (And in the event that I’m ever hurt, my disability policy will step in to help pick up the slack.)  I’m going to continue to work as hard as I possibly can.  I have a duty to my family, partners, lenders, and employees.  That is all I can give them…100% every day.  Mind you, this is a huge balancing act, but one that most everyone deals with.  So I just want to put it out there.  THANK YOU GOD FOR MY LIFE, HEALTH, AND ABILITY TO WORK.  I TRUST YOU TO GUIDE THIS WORLD THROUGH ALL THE CRAZINESS, AND I REFUSE TO BOW DOWN TO FEAR.

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!