International Credit Crisis

My wife and I took the kids to Barcelona Spain this past year. The kids were born there, a story for another time. In 1996 I was shopping for a condo there and the price was about $80K. The same condos on this trip were between $240K and $300K. Barcelona is looking to be a part of the new "digital" economy. Translated it means the economy there is still developing.

The point is that what ever is going on here in the United States, it's three times worse in the European Economic Community.

Real Estate is only one indicator. It is however the indicator that is having the finger pointed at it. It has an impact on employment, durable goods, factory jobs, and what is now most important; the mortgages associated with the loans to purchase the properties In Europe loans are forty years to compensate for the low wages being earned.

It makes no difference really to our economy. Our dollar is stable. Our economy started the panic, but in my opinion we are better positioned to weather the storm than Europe. We are much less dependant on developing countries, or economies.

Number one on my list is oil. We have massive amounts of land for solar, wind, geothermal, or hydro electric power sources. We could add nuclear to the list as Europe already does. Second is food. With land we have a wide variety of food. We also border two huge countries that have resources. Third, our factories are dormant. We were once a great manufacturing based economy that has been out sourced.

This discussion usually leads to the Asian market. The point I make repeatedly is that in a round about way the United States is the established business hub. While Europe was creating the Euro, China emerged as a global trading partner. Russia is trying to maintain order in an increasingly unbridled set of new business ventures.

The United States is a business model. Our politicians talk about government but most people want our cars, big houses, rap music, high roller, something from nothing life style. We create wealth out of thin air. We are the home of the pet rock, internet, personal computer, and Microsoft programming. Warren Buffet has a grade school education and he is now the richest man in America, taking the prize from a college drop out.

All in all we are the champions of the world.

Your business should be able to build on the advantages we have. The internet is global. Many countries are more advanced electronically than we are. They started later building infrastructure that is superior to ours. More eyes are on us than ever before. You have specialized knowledge that most business people in the world are just learning. You grew up knowing to read the fine print, every problem is an opportunity, and if you need money you need to work harder.

Here we can walk out of our door at any time and make money. You can stand in front of Home Depot with a card board sign and make money. You can stand on any corner with a card board sign and make money. You can go to the Goodwill and buy stuff to sell on EBay. Heck you can shop on EBay to sell stuff on EBay. You can consult, read palms, make mortgages, arrange Real Estate transactions, sell cars, trade stocks, or just give advice in a news letter people subscribe to.

As the panic spreads will you offer to help? Are you available? Is your service readily seen? People from around the world are going to be looking for that help, guidance, and security. In the United States we have a saying "It's only money." A lot of people will be looking for the ways to get money. Will you help them find it and in the process will you be able to keep some?

What I would like to avoid is giving you advice about your business in a general way. The point of this is to make you aware that the world is a big place that is getting smaller. This article is more about expanding your horizons, rather than pulling back. These crisises to me are the growing pains of a true global economy.