Herman School of Business
SHHH...we can't say that
Today I will mail out another batch of packages to continue marketing for speeches and the postage is seventeen percent higher than the packages I sent out twelve months ago. And the printed material inside has gone up in cost by about fifteen percent. After dropping off the material at the Post Office there will be a stop at the grocery store where some things have only gone up five percent while other items have gone up fifteen percent.
If the car needs gas, and it always seems to need gas, that we know is up thirty-eight percent in one year. For those who lease their cars that option is disappearing because ooops, the cars aren’t worth anywhere near as much as the leasing companies thought they would be. But if you want to buy a new car you better have more money for a down payment than every before…or have excellent credit. And while car companies are starting to dump those behemoths for thousands less than just a few months ago…you will more than make up the savings in driving costs.
To finish the day my family will meet at our favorite place to enjoy steamed crabs, Maryland crab soup, and wonderful seafood treats. Last year Jumbo crabs were seventy-five dollars a dozen, tonight they will be twelve percent higher at eighty-four bucks. And since it is still over ninety-degrees outside we will come home to sleep in an air conditioned environment…at electric prices that can’t be calculated on a percentage basis because it would make my skin crawl. My utility bill is three times higher than my mortgage was on my first house.
INFLATION is upon us. Shhhh no one is talking about that. With the collapse of our “false economy” where purchasing power was far ahead of what we were earning the bubble had to burst. So now what follows is the scramble to keep income up where companies sell anything, including power. And while everyone rushes prices higher spending disappears because credit has been cut off, banks are going in the dumper with bad debt and with less buying power comes..ta da…less buying. As inflation hits and buying power squeezes even more comes…DEPRESSION. If you made a lot of money and stayed out of debt over the last few years you are feeling a little tight but still doing fine. Let’s see…that’s almost none of Americans.
If you leveraged yourself into a lifestyle of the rich and famous you are now finding out the truth…you were never rich and probably not famous. But where is my positive vibe in this posting? What is so positive about telling you something you haven’t admitted to yet. Listen, I am the slap in the face that Cher gave Nicolas Cage in MOONSTRUCK when she yelled, “Snap out of it!”
The positive part is to see the reality, know it will get worse and start changing your habits to be able to cope with it. Stop living on credit. Start getting rid of stuff you don’t need. Pay off your debt instead of acquiring more waste in your life. And when this mess is over…in about two years…you will be one of the first ones smiling. And you may then be able to reward yourself with a better house at a lower price, buy a car better than what you are driving now…or keep living within your means and start building equity that will grow exponentially over time while your neighbor hopes the government will bail them out.
- Posted: 4 August 2008
- Comments: 0
- Category: Business success
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