Recession of Generation X, Y and Z…

Welcome to 2009, the year of cutting spending on useless programs and bad ideas. I wouldn’t grab 20 cases of water and head to the bomb shelter, but I would elect, and work for people who are willing to make the tough decisions to cut programs that are not performing. I have no doubt that the United States will bounce, or crawl, back to a low unemployment rate (currently at 6.1%), and when it does you will see there has been a return to the culture of innovation. It’s what the men and women of the US military do every day, even if leaders don’t lead that well. In the Navy, when your boss comes to you with a task, more than likely you wont have the resources to complete the job, and by the way, you have till the end of the day to finish. We get the job done anyways.

You want to know how we do it? Networking, teamwork, sweat, throw in some determination and bang the job is done. (all you vets insert your comments about how the US Military is a slow moving machine, but reminisce on the fact that you always got the job done, because if you didn’t, you didn’t go home) Throughout the economic rut we are in, I will keep a gadget on TheBigPicToday.com that will give a health meter on the US economy, to keep you from having to research.

What’s the exit strategy? Innovation, hard work, and reduction in priority 2 and 3 government programs. Oh, and a positive attitude. It’s amazing how the news drives the stock market. Just a whiff of bad news turns Europe on it’s head and vies-a-versa.

My Survival Tips

• Eat more food from home
• A dollar is a dollar. Put it in a savings account. I get a great 3.3% interest on Etrade that beats a lot of investments right now
  • There are great offers on 12-24 month Certificate of Deposits that I have seen as high as 4.25% on 12 months!
• Make sure your company isn’t risking your job to save theirs
• Alternative energy car conversions
  • If you can’t afford a conversion right now, make alternative energy vehicles your next purchase as they will be out and about in the 2010 models. A higher priced option right now is tesla motors

Come on everyone! Lets take things such as alternative energy and run with them. Crush the competition around the world, create new jobs, and make the air easier to breathe. This new wave of green energy will make the economy green too. Mark my words. You can quote me on it. Did you know that there are already companies out there who will convert your car to run on batteries or natural gas. Check out a company called FuelMaker which is a natural gas conversion. Natural gas is a clean alternative and is considerably cheaper than gasoline. Have you watch Who Killed The Electric Car? yet?

On Monday I will be adding the health chart on the left side of the website that will be a ‘Vitals Tracker.’ This chart will have the current unemployment rate compared to last year and ten year trend. This will also include our Gross Domestic Product, or GDP, which is the best way to track the health of the US economy and the ominous federal interest rate.

(Update: here is the chart, and if you click the indicator words, a chart will pop up giving a graphical representation of the trend)

Indicator	1998	Sept 2007	Sept 2008
US Real Gross Domestic Product (GDP)	$8.95 trillion	$13.81 trillion	Not Released
US GDP per person (rank in the world)	$31,518 (6th)	$45,800 (12th)	Not Released
Unemployment Rate (%)	4.6%	4.7%	6.1%