I'm a cypher, wrapped in an enigma, smothered in secret sauce. Also, my name is Kev and I own this here website.
Probably because it sounds so much like “recess,” the word “recession” doesn’t scare me. Whenever I hear someone say the word I begin daydreaming about being a kid again, climbing monkey bars on a playground and “accidentally” knocking the other kids down. Good times, good times.
Of course, a few seconds – okay, minutes – later I wake up and realize they weren’t talking about wacky playground adventures. They were talking about the sinkhole that is the current state of the economy.
Granted, the United States was probably due for another recession. We haven’t had one since 2001-2002. But I have to think the greedy, idiotic, insanely stupid, good for nothing, mush for brains responsible for the whole subprime mortgage mess (both the lenders and the borrowers) played a big hand in getting the ol’ recession ball rolling.
Thanks, guys. Thanks a bunch. I hope karma (or Chuck Norris) gives you all a swift kick to the butt while wearing steel-toe boots.
The Bright Side
Of course, a recession isn’t the end of the world. Granted, if you’re trying to sell your home you might have some trouble. And yes, if you’re looking to buy a home you might have difficulty – depending on your credit score – getting a good mortgage. And true, getting a loan of any type might be difficult. And okay, inflation is going to continue to eat away at the dollar’s value to the point where everything at the 99 Cent Store might cost several dollars.
Where was I going with this…
Oh, the upside.
Here are 5 silver linings, as I see them, to the economy going into a recession:
5. Lots of great deals on eBay. Because people might be strapped for cash, rare items not usually put up for sale could be made available. Bummed that you lost out on William Shatner’s toupee a few years back? Don’t worry, the owner could be putting it up for auction very soon. A recession is a Sci-Fi geek’s best – and likely only – friend.
4. The media might talk about something other than Britney Spears for a change. We can hope.
3. Atlanta Falcons hire a head coach. Due to fears a recession could impact the job market, the Falcons should be able to finally find someone crazy and desperate enough to fill their coaching position.
2. A new Michael Moore documentary. A recession increases the chances that the rotund film maker will make a documentary about the U.S. economy, which increases the chances that he’ll knock on my door to interview me, which increases the chances that I will get the opportunity to throat punch Michael Moore.
1. The iPhone will finally come down in price.
Help me out, people. What are some other possible advantages to a recession?
Humor-blogs is willing to coach the Falcons.
;-) 1.24.08 at 6:04 am:
I work for a bank who is in the leveraged loan business, to me, there is no upside to a recession. In fact, I think I should come over and kick America’s ass for dragging Britain down with it. Damn You!
;-) 1.24.08 at 4:55 pm:
If the recession gets bad enough, and interest rates drop low enough, my employers will finally be able to refinance the totally insanely stupid-high mortgage they currently have, and despite said recession we may all finally get a RAISE!
;-) 1.26.08 at 2:14 pm:
Despite potential recession I recently got a raise.
In terms of economic stability and job security, I view recessions the way I view lay-offs.
With layoffs, if you are making yourself an asset to your company and thus making yourself indispensible then there is little chance you will be laid off (unless the company just goes out of business). In the same way, if you are making sound saving, investment and spending decisions when things are good then you will be prepared when there’s an economic downturn.
The ones who are hurt be downturns in the economy are those with bad credit, no savings and high debt due to bad decisions during the up-times.
;-) 2.5.08 at 10:23 pm:
“And yes, if you’re looking to buy a home you might have difficulty – depending on your credit score – getting a good mortgage.”
Whatever type of mortgage you obtain can be improved dramatically by doing the following:
More and more folks are using a Home Equity Line of Credit (HELOC) as an interest cancellation account to accelerate their home equity and payoff their home *years* sooner than listed on their mortgage amortization schedule.
Unfortunately, today’s Real Estate market means that folks can no longer count on appreciation to build home equity. Those who realize that they need to pay down their current mortgage debt are looking for alternate ways to aggressively (yet safely) build equity.
And they’ve discovered a perfect online system to do that; they can focus on their wealth accumulation goals while accelerating their equity simply by using a Home Equity Line of Credit to ‘power’ the Money Merge Account™ financial solutions program.
A typical 30 year loan (of whatever type) can be paid down in 1/3 to 1/2 the time — it’s a great way to save *huge* amounts of income by eliminating a mortgage amortization front-end interest load. (On a million-plus dollar home, I’ve personally seen where the Money Merge Account™ program will save the homeowner $750,000 in interest charges!)
And the best thing – homeowners don’t have to refinance their existing mortgage or, in most cases, make any adjustments to their lifestyle.
It is unfortunate that most of us were never taught to follow three essential principles: (1) Avoid paying interest, whenever possible, (2) Use other people’s money, whenever possible and (3) Find and use a financial system that will guide you, especially if you have the tendency to go off-track. The Money Merge Account™ software and the program’s counselors use these principles to keep each homeowner focused on their wealth accumulation goals.
I’d be happy to provide further details…