The,Economic,Revolution,How,Su DIY The Economic Revolution - How To Survive Into The Next Mille

Normal 0 false false false MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable{mso-style-name:"Table Normal";mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;mso-style-noshow:yes;mso-style-parent:"";mso-padding-alt:0in When starting a new work at home business it is very easy to become consumed by it. We spend so much time trying to get the business up and running that we may end up becoming burned out and lose our motivation. There is so much to learn and

Obviously, I mean THIS Millennium now, but what follows is anarticle I first had published in a magazine in July 1996. So, whyam I writing this introduction and re-publishing now?May 2000: The other day, I was reading an article on MAYPLANETARY ALIGNMENT By Dorene A. Carrel mailto:[email protected] aSeattle-area astrologer who provides consultations for natal,relationship and relocation charts. In her article, Dorene citesastrological reasons, due to these current planetary alignments,for changes in our banking and monetary systems and goes on tosay that perhaps bartering may become the wave of the future.I was stunned by the *coincidence* with the information I hadresearched some years before for one of my teeth-cutting articlesin my new career as a journalist after spending 20 odd years inmanagement accountancy and business administration.We are seeing this all happening now, every day on the WWW, eventhough I didn't know I meant the Internet when I wrote theoriginal article. We barter daily for freebies, reciprocal linksand more in order to promote our online businesses. There aremany of us trying to eke a living in this way against a backdropof rising unemployment and a lack of other support systems. Andit ain't always easy!Read on, I know it will sound like doom, gloom and bleakness.It isn't: I hope that in fact it will give you motivation,inspiration and confidence in what you are doing. I think theInternet is the *right* place to be. Follow all the advice you'llread to keep persevering in your efforts and don't falter whenthe going gets tough. The only way you can fail is to give up.__________In much the same way as we are headed for enormous environmentalchanges, so we are headed for economic changes on a scale thatnone of us has witnessed before or will again.Since the mid 16th century, the world's economies have sufferedregular depressions and it is now recognised that there is a 60year debt cycle. It doesn't take much to realise that since thelast, The Great Depression, fell in the 1930's, that we in the'90's are therefore slap-bang in another.However, there is also another cycle that is even more impacting.That is a 500 year cycle, which we are due to undergo around theyear 2000. No-one has yet discovered any scientific reason forthis cycle, but it certainly exists. In fact, it is alreadyunderway and it is the combination of these two economic cyclesthat is why there will be such an enormous revolution inthe world economic structure as we know it.We only have to look back into history to see what happened atprevious 500 year intervals, to see the proof and measure thelikely impact of what we will witness. History does repeatitself. It was between 50 BC and 50 AD that the Christianreligion began and the Roman Republic was replaced by anEmpire. Around 500 AD, the Roman Empire collapsed. At 1000 AD,the Dark Ages ended to begin the Middle Ages.In 1500 AD the Modern Age really began when great changes werebrought about by the invention of the printing press in around1450. Imagine that impact of having been able to teach masses ofpeople to read, write and communicate for the very first time.In much the same way, the revolution that is underway now is alsoto do with the spread of information. The 'culprit' now ofcourse being the computer chip, or more precisely the personalcomputer. Once, all the information and power was in the handsof governments and large institutions. Now everyone has it.This will impact in major ways on economic structures, onworking methods and on social structures.We already know that the world's economies are in crisis and thatwhole countries are virtually broke. Powerful countries like theUS are so heavily in debt that by 1995, 57% of tax revenue wasneeded just to pay the interest on its loans. The UK, Germanyand Canada are also in serious trouble and they are not alone.Japan is more heavily in debt even than the US and willcontribute to the other's worsening situation when it tries tooff-load its interests.What happens when you and I can't pay our debts is that we don'tget any more credit and go bankrupt. When it is a majorgovernment, they have the option of printing money (yes, don't weall wish). That leads to inflation, rising interest rates andthe then value of the money becomes totally worthless.Part of the result that will affect the ordinary person will bethe collapse of infrastructures such as the welfare state. Wecan already see how the UK National Health system is in seriousdecline, underlined by the recent reports of the child that died,kept alive for 18 months by private donations after the NationalHealth had decreed that it wasn't worth it to give her anyfurther treatment. Fundamental health decisions will continueto be made on such economic basis. For the same reasons andbecause of people's greater life expectancy, governments will notbe able to fulfil pension obligations. These sorts of basic aidwill end up going only to the most needy.After the technological revolution, the only way to survive thiseconomic revolution will be to return to old ways with a twist.Cottage industry (albeit hi-tech), self-sufficiency andbartering. This revolution will inevitably bring about muchsocial unrest so those of us that live in relatively safer areaswill also be at an early advantage. The technology at leastmeans we can work anywhere. Those that will survive best will bethose with skills that they can adapt to making their own living.I do not feel that it is any coincidence that many of the 'new'ways of living will also be better for the planet's environment.I believe that these cycles are intrinsically linked. Think ofhow many people you know that survive doing 'a bit of this and abit of that'. If anyone is, we ought to be in a good position tosurvive into the next millennium. Article Tags: Next Millennium