Recession Contingency Gears

The are many online articles saying that the 'deep recession' is coming. We must prepare now on how to avoid it and how to deal with it. Wherever we are and whoever our roots are, we are all a part of the present inhabitants of the earth.  Whether we belong to this or that generation, we have the common denominator at the moment -- the 'here and now' thing.

History leaves us many lessons. We learned from what happened and what is happening, directly or indirectly. But what must be unlearned to learn more about a recession? Not everyone affected by the Great Recession has recovered fully by now, and it has left many wounds to many individuals families, communities and countries. What have we learned from the past recession stories?

We always see a gear symbol whenever there is something to be figured out. It symbolizes a process -- how do we start, what should be done, and what is the goal to achieve in the process. In a financial crisis, particularly in 'deep recession' -- scary as it may sound, what must be done to avoid it, or if unavoidable, what must be done to deal with it, and to reverse it?

Cambridge dictionary defines 'gear' as 'a device, often consisting of connecting sets of wheels with teeth (points) around the edge, that controls how much power from an engine goes to the moving parts of a machine'.

Humanity is like one  (1) machine. We have different parts, all connected, all on the move but with different speeds, with the wheels of time.

We cannot say that one country experiences recession and the rest is not adversely affected. We are all affected. Everything is interconnected.

For example, in Greece, there was a time when their people could not withdraw money from the banks. Everybody suffered from the worst financial hit because of the Greek government-debt crisis triggered by the worldwide Great Recession in 2008. It is known as 'The Crisis' which started in 2009. To date, the Greek economy suffered the longest recession, overtaking the US Great Depression. (Read more here.)

The wise world leaders prepare stimulus plans to speed up economic engines and combat the monstrous recession. They strategize contingency gears to fight the financial crisis. But they cannot do it alone, or with some trusted people in their circles. They need the ideas and support of the people.

What can they do, and what can we do? Together, what can we do? Many people have problems of their own. Each of us has his own priorities.

Learning from the lessons of the past, our elders and financial gurus teach us frugality. But in some unexpected situations, this frugality must be unlearned in consideration of a bigger picture.

According to Bloomberg, in Germany, some leaders urge the government to 'loosen its purse strings and abandon the zero-deficit' policy'. Chancellor Angela Merkel, said recently that their economy is 'heading into a difficult phase' and her government will react 'depending on the situation'.

Janet Yellen said,

People stop buying things, and that is how you turn a slowdown into a recession.

The consumers' massive spending on products and service helps bolster economic growth. If there are great demands for those, the businessmen will be proactive and will create more to satisfy the consumers. This will help create many job opportunities that will give revenues to people so they have money to spend to pay for their required products and services.

Basically, there are two (2) ways to create money -- to do business or to be employed either by the private employer or the government. Actually, there are three (3) ways and the third is a combination of both, to do business while employed, or to be employed while doing business.

It is high time for the government to create more entrepreneurs and encourage people to do business, as most of them cannot do it all alone by themselves, meaning, they need manpower -- so they hire people, and they help create jobs. One strategic way is to pave a much easier, faster, smarter and cheaper way of putting up the businesses and renewing their trade licenses, than ever before. Flexi- and virtual offices to save on business operating costs will help. Part-time jobs must be allowed with relaxed rules. I think these all combined are but a strategic stimulus to create a very effective recession contingency gear.

If everything starts in the mind, there must be a strong global campaign on neuroscience. Everyone must use the brains to figure out how to create and discover opportunities to make money and spend on things (like experiences, bonding with the families, additional talents and skills upgrades, travel and tours, etc.) needed to make himself and those who surround him happy.

Proactive responses to a challenging situation will help bolster economic growth.

Great stimuli can help those who feel stuck. Their power must be activated. At whatever low level they are, support is needed to speed up their productivity gears.

Young people can be taught how to do business at the age of 12, as financial guru/life coach/speaker Tai Lopez encourages it via his Youtube channel.

Senior/retired citizens can be given jobs to be productive and earn money as long as they are happy and physically fit to perform their tasks.

The people of determination can be given opportunity platforms to have gainful employment.

Idle spaces can be utilized (say, idle lots for farming and idle building spaces for businesses) to bolster commercial/industrial output and protect jobs.

On debts, some government offices and businesses who face financial challenges propose for restructuring. This must also apply to financially troubled individuals so they can move on with their lives, earn money that they can spend, instead of being red-flagged for employment visa and job opportunities.

When there is a recession, many people suffer from depression. True, we cannot beat uncertainties, for the reason that we cannot fully control what happens outside us. When things go wrong and a recession hits us, we lose output, resources, family stability, and at times, self-respect.

The Philippines with economy as the 70th freest in the 2019 index* is very good at sending workers abroad.  OFW's (overseas Filipino workers') remittances equivalent to nearly 10 percent of GDP (gross domestic product) are a huge source of what keeps it afloat, so they are called as modern-day heroes.

Do you agree with Eugene Fama's lines?

People don't walk away from their homes unless they can't make the payments. That's an indication that we are in a recession.

At the moment, let us passionately muster whatever we can, whatever it takes, to go and grind, utilize what we have got, make money to spend to survive and thrive, do business, and save for the rainy and grey-hair days. Let us all pray that there will be no recession and depression to hit us.

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*The Philippines' economic freedom score is 63.8, making its economy the 70th freest in the 2019 index. Its overall score has decreased by 1.2 points. Read more here.

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Photo credits:  Pixabay