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OOYR Preface: Proper understanding of the big picture is the first, best strategy for preparing and rearranging your life to prosper in the future. In order to prepare effectively for the future—in regard to careers, spending, saving or investing—we must first have a realistic assessment of the situation at hand and where it can reasonably be expected to lead. In the current economic environment, an optimist isn’t one who expects a quick return to the prosperity of yesterday, but rather the person who considers the economy in realistic–though perhaps dismal—terms, and prepares his life, finances and occupation in a proactive manner. The post below, which provides that necessary perspective, is an article written by Charles Hugh Smith at OfTwoMinds.com, and reprinted here by permission. His blog is perhaps the most concise and easy to understand analysis of the state of the economy and the forces driving it as you will find anywhere. Charles is also the author of the e-book Survival+: Structuring Prosperity for Yourself and the Nation. Both the blog and the ebook are highly recommended.

A number of lethal traps hobble structural reforms to the failing Status Quo.

While I often refer here to cycles, trends and feedback loops, there is another class of forces called traps which are self-explanatory: once entered, traps are difficult or impossible to escape due to their inherent (ontological) nature. While all the traps have conceptual elements, each is very much grounded in the real world.

For example: once a nation misallocates its capital into unneeded malls, office towers and exurban housing which now sit vacant and decaying, that capital can never be recovered.

Here are few such traps:

Continue reading Interlocking Traps (Or Why This Recession May Not Be So Temporary) →