Are You Ready for the Next Recession?

According to this article, "the next recession is going to suck."  How eloquent.  Of course people won't care about eloquence, or much else for that matter, if they are given very little in the way of unemployment benefits.  I am seriously concerned about the state of our nation should a massive recession/depression hit.  People are still up to their ears in debt, jobs are paying less than ever, benefits are practically non-existent in many cases, and so many businesses are doing the financial gymnastics to "hire" employees but not really as a side company is actually the employer while the main company gets to use the employees but doesn't have any actual responsibility towards them...the list of negatives about the current world of work is long and getting longer.

At the risk of sounding like a broken record, here are the basics for preparing for the next recession:

• Get out of debt!  House, car, student loans, credit cards.  Try not to owe anyone anything.  If you do this, you only bills will be utilities, food, gas, etc.
• Downsize if possible (can you go from three cars to two? from a 3000 sq ft house to a 2000 sq ft house?).
• Have multiple streams of income.
• Bulk up your savings.
• Diversify your investments.
• Live simply and below your means.
• Vote for those who will represent you well (these politicians and politicians like them should be voted out).
• Be as self-sufficient as possible.
• Develop a wide range of sale-able skills.
• Look for opportunities (opportunities for other sources of income, opportunities to help others, opportunities to network with others, etc).
• Stockpile the things you use the most (food, toiletries, etc).