When I wrote my first blog a year ago in October, 2007 I never imagined I would be writing blogs about a global financial collapse only a year later. 

But the fact is: As of today, October 10, 2008, the stock exchange has lost over 40% of its value since October 9, 2007.  Housing values continue to decline from month to month at a rate never before seen since the great depression. The Federal Reserve has lowed it’s interest rate to 1 1/2 %  – and the credit markets are still dried up!

Now here’s the reality check: 

Five days ago (Monday October 5, 2008)  I used the warning issued by Jim Cramer, of the “Mad Money” cable tv show as a means of communicating to you just how dire the situation was.  On Monday, Cramer said take your money out of the stock market.

That was Monday…  Counting Monday through Friday  –  this week the market has dropped an astonishing 1,874  points according to MSNBC!  Those of you who took their money out of the market and parked it in FDIC insured savings accounts will be able to repurchase their stock portfolio back at an average cost of  18.2% less than what it was worth on Monday. 

But, knowing how most people tend to be in “denial” of reality — the worst is yet to come. 

This coming Monday, as people have had the weekend to mull over their financial situation   — many small investors will start to pull their money out of the market — in a panic —  which will push the Dow even lower. They will get even less money than they could have when I related the warning from Jim Cramer on Monday.  But waiting until it’s too late is human nature.

The bottom line is this:

There’s a financial free-fall going on right now because people are scared – and those who have been in denial are starting to wake up and react — it’s the larger mass of people who always react more slowly that are probably going to force the stock market even lower.

With manufacturing giants like Ford Motor going for only $1.92 a share  (at the close of the market today) you had better understand that a gigantic deflation in the value of everything is taking place right now –

The $700 billion dollar bailout is way too little too late — The sad truth is that the Untied States Government does not possess the means necessary to stem the downward tide of the global financial markets — and most investors around the world know that’s the case.  

It’s as if a gigantic ponzi scheme has finally fallen apart because the people at the bottom of the pyramid have lost faith in the “deal”…  And don’t be fooled by the mainstream media into believing that the cause was sub-prime mortgages… That’s just a convenient scapegoat and only part of the problem.

I bought into that one until I started doing some investigation on my own. 

First off, it’s really hard to get accurate information.  You need to understand that the reason for this is because the hyper leveraging of financial derivatives was not regulated —  and frankly was not even understood by those who could have had the power to regulate it.

Think about that for a moment… We’re talking trillions of dollars here — not billions!

The financial shenanigans were so arcane that nobody really understood what was going on or how wide spread these financial transactions were.  The “rating agencies” were telling investors these things were good and safe investments — when the truth was they didn’t fully understand what they were rating!

This was all “high finance” stuff — you had to have millions in order to even play this game.  So the “players” were gambling on these financial fantasy products to the tune of TRILLIIONS  OF DOLLARS — and the whole world was buying into it.

Why do you think the entire world financial system is now in chaos?

The most  important thing now is for you to think about your own safety and your own ability to survive and prosper — to the degree you are able to — during the coming weeks and months.  

I hope that what I’m writing right now in this blog will turn out to be an overreaction to the current situation:

I would love to humbly apologize to you at some later time for overreacting.  I just don’t want to apologize to you for standing by and not saying anything!  

You need to think very seriously about your own physical survival in times like these.

Do you have some cash on hand — just in case your credit cards are suddenly no longer valid?

I would guess that 70% or more of day-to-day retail transactions are conducted through credit and debit cards– it’s just the way things have evolved over the last few years.

My biggest concern is if  the banks who issued the cards suddenly stopped the credit lines — the credit they’ve already given you!  What if you couldn’t use your credit cards to buy food or gasoline for the next week or two — or more? 

What would you do?  Are you prepared for something like this?

Maybe having at least a month’s worth of cash on hand or making sure the places you shop still accept checks from your FDIC insured bank account  is something you had better think very seriously about.

Because of the drastically changing outer reality, Gwen and I have decided we are going to shift the attention of Intentional Prosperity™ into a practical  “survive and prosper” mode. You’re going to notice a change in our web site in the next few days… And you’ll be hearing me on the radio talking about it.

The Intentional Prosperity™ philosophy isn’t going to change — in fact it’s more valid now than ever.  We are however going to be changing our message to include practical steps you need to take in order to ride the wave of the coming changes in the weeks and months to come.

Now more than ever, you need to understand how life really works — where prosperity and abundance really comes from. 

Life as you knew it is changing right before your eyes.  If you are prepared for the coming changes and the new opportunities that change always brings — you will survive and prosper in the days and weeks to come.

If you choose to bury your head in the sand and entertain yourself with distractions and any other activity that enables you to ignore the reality of what’s going on all around you — then you are setting yourself up to be a victim of circumstances instead of the master of your destiny.

Intentional Prosperity™ is and always will be dedicated to making you the Master of your own destiny, regardless of the changes to your day-to-day world.

-Bob Baran