Living with Volatility

Is the economy going up or down, sideways or clockwise? It’s anyone’s guess. But the more interesting question is do we create our “own economy” or do we let other people’s ideas of how the economy is going influence us.

Listening to all the candidates running for president and seeing how quickly the Federal Reserve reacted to a perceived weakness in world markets this week, the dreaded “R” word (Recession) is uppermost on many people’s minds, especially those politicians.

According to these so called experts, a recession is something to be avoided and automatically brings bad things for almost everyone. And if you follow this logic, each of us has no say whether to participate in this scenario; it’s another life situation seemingly beyond our control.

But is recession necessarily a bad thing? As in every situation in life, there are winners and losers, advantages and disadvantages at every phase. When you look at what changes a “recession” may bring, some of them are not so bad at all. For instance, some people tend to have a little less work (others more), and those with less work can actually, if they let themselves, relax a little and take a breath. Maybe spend some more time with the family, investigate that new project or business they had no time for before, etc. Lower interest rates have some benefits too: reduced monthly credit card bills and in some cases mortgages.

American politicians continue to treat the electorate in an infantile manner, because they reinforce the deluded stereotype that if people can’t go out and shop for more crap, the world is going to cave in! I hope that there will come a time soon when these politicos, some of whom are quite smart, will stop with this knee jerk reaction and stop playing on people’s worst fears about their future. I have never heard one politician speak the truth on this matter, which might run something like this: There are natural cycles in everything, relationships, jobs and the economy. Just like anything, “prosperity” can’t last forever, no matter how much you try. Rather than try and fight the natural cycles, or try and fight an inevitable change, as the Fed did by lowering interest rates again this week, let’s embrace change; let’s try and look for the good in it, and let’s actually try and profit by it.

And remember, change need not be the enemy in our lives; fear is the real monster that needs to be constantly slayed.