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How to Protect Your Money — And Your Future Economy (in a post-coronavirus world)

Let’s be honest…

 

The term “business as usual” is going to take on a whole new meaning once this pandemic is over. The virus may end the late 20th century way of life.

 

Some businesses may come back to a new normal, while many won’t come back at all… Leaving millions unemployed searching for new opportunities to provide for their family.

 

One thing is crystal clear…

 

Having to rely on someone else in order to put food on your table is downright scary. That’s why now is the perfect time to find a way to protect & make money on your own terms. Something YOU have control over.

 

I know it may seem overwhelming to get started…

 

Which is why I’ve written this guide to help you in this time of crisis. Here you’ll find my step–by–step blueprint for ideas on how you could make money from home as well as protect your finances from internal & external theft. No special licenses or certifications are required…

 

And you can get started with little or no money. All you need is a phone, a laptop and something you love doing.

 

But first, let’s analyse the pre-existing economic conditions before the outbreak. Understanding what was already baked into the cake years ago can offer clues as to why every institution, country, state and city was unprepared for the coronavirus pandemic, despite many prior warnings:

 

Pre-existing Economic Conditions

(before Covid-19)

 

What has the economy got to do with our health system? Well, both are highly interdependent. Without a sound economy, we wouldn’t have an effective global health infrastructure.

 

 

We see this today with the things we urgently need but don’t have. We don’t have enough coronavirus tests, or test materials — including, amazingly, cotton swabs and common reagents. We don’t have enough ventilators, negative pressure rooms, and ICU beds. And we don’t have enough surgical masks, eye shields, and medical gowns.

Going into this current crisis we were faced with some of the biggest macro imbalances the world has ever seen – very similar to what happened in 1929.

 

 

These were all in place and, just as the Fed tightened and caused a slowdown, Trump shattered global supply chains by initiating trade wars, and then the corona virus hit.

 

The Coronavirus pandemic provided the perfect cover for the inevitable pop of the “Everything Bubble“. It will allow them to pin the blame of a global recession on an invisible enemy of the people. As the saying goes, “never let a good crisis go to waste“.

 

But what people don’t realize is that the economy unraveled so quickly because it was a gigantic house of cards that was based on bubbles. A healthy, prudent and sound economy wouldn’t have unraveled so quickly.

 

The economy is not fragile because of the virus.

                                                               The virus exposed the fragility of the economy.

 

For decades, economist and politicians used inflation to push the idea that spending is great for the economy. “There’s no need to save for a rainy day.

 

They used inflation to punish people and corporations for holding cash. A system with meagre cash balances is a fragile system with no safeguard. In the quest for efficiency we have sacrificed health security and supply chain robustness.

 

 

Not even the “strongest economy ever” can survive a 2-week shutdown. New York City, the world’s major financial center had to put out a desperate call for rain ponchos to be used as medical gowns. Rain ponchos! In 2020! In America!

 

Many of us would like to pin the cause on one political party or another, on one government or another. But the harsh reality is that it all failed — no country, state, or city was prepared — and despite hard work and often extraordinary sacrifice by many people within these institutions.

 

So the problem runs much deeper than you think.

 


 

Here’s a story taken from the Book of Genesis:

 

Pharaoh had a dream. In it, he was standing by the river. Out came 7 fat cattle. Then, 7 lean cattle came up out of the river and ate the fat cattle. A similar dream involved ears of corn, with the good ones devoured by the thin ears.

 

Pharaoh was troubled. His dream interpreters were stumped. So, they sent for the Hebrew man who was said to be good at this sort of thing — Joseph. Pharaoh described what had happened in his dreams. Without missing a beat, Joseph told him what they meant.

 

The 7 fat cattle and 7 fat ears of corn represented years of plenty with bountiful harvests. The 7 lean cattle and thin ears of corn represented years of famine. Joseph gave his advice: Pharaoh should put into place an activist, counter-cyclical economic policy. He should tax 20% of the output during the fat years and then he would be ready with some grain to sell when the famine came.

 

Genesis reports what happened next:

 

…the seven years of plenty ended and famine struck, and when Egypt was famished, Joseph opened the storehouses, and sold food to the Egyptians. People from all countries came to Egypt to buy grain, because the famine struck all the earth.

 

Modern governments today should act like Pharaoh. They should run counter-cyclical fiscal and monetary policies. In the fat years, they should store up surpluses. In the lean years, they should open the doors of the granaries so that people might eat.

 

This seems sensible enough, until you realize that modern governments do not run surpluses. Only deficits. The US hasn’t run a real surplus (not including Social Security payments) since 1969. That’s 43 years without closing the granary doors. Not surprisingly, you can look in there. You won’t find anything. Except I.O.Us. Instead of actually storing up grain in the fat years, the feds ate every bit of it. And more. Now, come the years of famine, they have no grain to give out.

 

 

That might be the end of the story. But it’s not. Economists insist that the feds can follow a Pharaonic policy even with their bins empty. How? By borrowing money…and in the extreme…printing it. You are probably getting ahead of me here, dear reader. You are wondering whether that would have worked in Ancient Egypt. Could Pharaoh have saved the expense of stocking up grain, and simply borrowed it when he needed it?

 

Well, there’s only so much grain available. Borrowing from those who still have some doesn’t help. At best, it just moves it around. At worst, it takes the ‘seed’ grain needed for the next year’s planting. Without it, the next year’s harvest will be smaller, leaving even more people hungry. You know how it ends…

 


 

The Economic Impact

 

When an economy shuts, it holds its breath. Question is how long can you hold your breath before it causes irreparable damage?

 

Your brain works fine without oxygen for a minute. A Navy SEAL could probably hold his breath for two to three minutes without any issues. But for most people, past the three minute mark, they’ll begin to lose consciousness.

 

As each minute passes, 2 million brain cells die, causing increasingly irreversible damage. Once ten to fifteen minutes have elapsed, there’s no turning back.

 

A. Unemployment

 

It works the same way with money. All economic entities — businesses and consumers — can go a little while without income. But wait too long, and the harm becomes permanent. We might have to cancel plans, lay off workers, or lose our homes. And if we go without cash for too long, we’ll have to shut down.

 

Remember, our economy is fragile. There’s little cash-cushion to soften the blow from a sharp economic cutoff.

 

195 million jobs are expected to be lost worldwide by the second quarter of 2020 according to the International Labour Organization. They’re calling it a “Job Catastrophe“. (For context, in 2008-2009 we lost somewhere around 22 million jobs worldwide.)

 

30 million unemployment claims in the U.S. alone so far… And we haven’t seen the peak yet. Millions more people are going to be out of work in the coming weeks…

 

 

B. Market Crash

 

Global shares took a hit in the middle of March 2020. It was the sharpest decline in history even steeper than the Great Depression of 1929. It took just 15 days for the US index to fall 20% from its all-time high compared to 30 days in October 1929.

 

This time is different. The velocity of the market decline in unlike anything before.

 

Stocks climbed back higher after $6 trillion was artificially injected into the market. $6 TRILLION is the equivalent of spending a Dollar every SECOND for the next 189,860 YEARS… I shouldn’t have to tell you how crazy this sounds!

 

Yes, you can spend a lifetime working to EARN the dollar, and the central bank can swoop in and mark-up the entire money supply on a computer, instantly stealing your buying power in a split second. Wealth then transfers to those closest to the money printer via the Cantillon Effect.

 

C. Oil Price Crash

 

Worldwide lockdowns have kept people inside homes causing demand for oil to dry up completely. Before this happened, an oil war was already brewing between Saudi Arabia and Russia which directly impacts the United States through the Petrodollar system.

 

 

If global shares and unemployment numbers weren’t shocking enough, the price of oil plunging below zero should make your jaw-drop! Energy companies are struggling to keep afloat as nobody wants the oil that’s been delivered to their doorstep. This has profound consequences, and we’re already seeing the ripple effects on economies heavily reliant on oil. Deflation.

 

D. Supply Chain Disruption

 

Understanding the Covid-19 Recessions @NathanBaschez

 

China makes up a third of manufacturing globally, and is the world’s largest exporter of goods. While they’re being ordered to go back to work, their borders remain closed to foreigners. But as factories get up and running, they’ll begin to notice a sharp fall in demand for their goods. Demand is destroyed.

 

 

On the flip side, the U.S. is the biggest importer of goods.  There is now a rallying cry to bring manufacturing back to the U.S. as people are mad that their essential supplies are mostly located on the other side of the world.

 

Supply chains have been designed from the top-down to be ruthlessly efficient, but unfortunately, they’re rigid and ineffective in such times.

 

Here are some items almost exclusively made in China: Tylenol, all antibiotics, antianxiety medication (18 million subscriptions in the U.S. and heavily physically addictive), tissues, Clorox, vitamin C, salt, pepper, birth control pills, etc. The list is huge.

 

Many small businesses (Amazon sellers) rely heavily on China to restock their inventories. BUT their factories/suppliers are not returning calls. Some are CLOSED DOWN for good. Many more will go out of business if the demand remains as such within the next few months.

 

E. Global Food Supply Chain At Risk

 

The UN warns that the abrupt shutdown of countries could threaten the global food supply. The issue, however, is not food scarcity — at least, not yet. Rather, it’s the world’s drastic measures in response to the virus.

 

 

Border closures, movement restrictions, and disruptions in the shipping and aviation industries have made it harder to continue food production and transport goods internationally — placing countries with few alternative food sources at high risk.

 

This has forced large-scale farms that supply institutions to dump produce they can’t sell. All due to the fact that the system was built for global distribution not local. This supply and demand misalignment is wrecking havoc at every intersection.

 

Airlines have grounded thousands of planes and ports have closed — stranding containers of food, medicine, and other products on tarmacs and holding areas. Heightened instability in global food supply will affect the poorest citizens most, warned the UN’s Committee on World Food Security (CFS) in a paper last month.

 

F. Travel Industry: Hardest-Hit

 

It took politicians months of bickering before coming to a decision to impose strict travel restrictions. Being reactive rather than proactive had grave consequences. As dealing with an invisible enemy with multiplicative abilities, it’s very costly to have lapses in judgement.

 

 

As soon as restrictions were in-place, global travel demand plummeted. With most borders sealed, airline companies had no choice but to drastically cut the number of flights. Major airline companies are already looking forward to a government bailout. Other travel companies and everything in-between may never recover from this. Many would have to adapt and completely flip their businesses to correspond with the change in times.

 

 

The biggest U.S. airlines spent 96% of free cash flow over the last decade to buy back shares of their own stock in order to boost executive bonuses and please wealthy investors. Now, they expect taxpayers to bail them out to the tune of $50 billion. Like the banks, it’s the same old story.

 

 

It took 10 years to recover from the 2008 – 2009 financial crisis, to get from 10% back to 4% unemployment. But now we’re at more than 20% unemployment. And much supply & demand has been permanently destroyed, even without a lockdown due to the uncertainty.

 

Would it take a decade or more to rebuild this time?

 

G. Important to Mention

 

 

 

 

 

As you can see, it’s not the reaction that wrecked the economy. It’s the LACK of INITIAL reaction that brought down the entire economy.

 

If a virus can bring us down to our knees with a sneeze, how is it sustainable for us in the long run? GOT INSURANCE?

 

 

If you have a phone, a computer and free time, now is the perfect time to start working towards a new stream of income and protecting your money against greed and incompetence of corporate criminals and politicians.

 

We are in the age where defensive technologies and capabilities are rising. And it’s for YOU to benefit!

 

That’s why I put together this step–by–step strategy showing you how. The reality is that times are uncertain, and we can’t clearly see when or how this will all play out…

 

But you can do something about how YOU come out of it…

 

This is the story of your life, and you want to make sure you are the hero of your story.

 

The Future of Work & Money

 

The Coronavirus pandemic is changing the way we work, study, digest news, and entertain ourselves. Large physical gatherings of strangers are now seen as a national threat.

This pandemic shatters societal trust. If we don’t trust each other then we can’t function. But work is a social thing, and we’re all capable of working digitally and remotely. Gatherings online are trustless environments. You do not need certainty that the stranger you’re working with might have the virus.

 

For now, the COVID-19 pandemic has upended businesses around the world, and lockdowns have forced companies and administrations to switch to remote working almost overnight.

 

 

Covid-19 simply accelerated these trends by ten-fold.

 

Here’s  a quick breakdown of the biggest changes from SimilarWeb, Apptopia and App Annie:

 

A. We are giving up our phones for our computers

Facebook, Netflix and YouTube have all seen user numbers on their phone apps stagnate or fall off as their websites have grown.

 

B. We are seeking new ways to connect via video chat

Social app usage is exploding: Daily downloads of Houseparty have risen 25x. The video chat app was downloaded over 650,000 times on March 25.

As people want to see one another – its has given a big boost to apps like Google’s video chatting application, Duo, and Houseparty; and led to a renewed interest in Nextdoor, the social media site focused on connecting local neighborhoods.

 

C. We are now relying on services that allow us to work and learn from home

Collaboration apps are now household names: Worldwide daily downloads of Zoom’s mobile app have increased by 14x since February 15. Video conferencing apps saw a record 62 million downloads during a single week in March.

The offices and schools have all moved into our basements and living rooms. Nothing is having a more profound impact on online activity than this change. School assignments are being handed out on Google Classroom. Meetings are happening on Zoom, Google Hangouts and Microsoft Teams.

 

D. We are now reading more online news

People are hungry for news: Web traffic to major news outlets has grown more than 50 percent over the last month.

Amid the uncertainty about how bad the outbreak could get, people appear to want few things more than the latest news; and the biggest beneficiaries from the situation are local news sites, with huge jumps in traffic as people try to learn how the pandemic is affecting their hometowns.

 

E. Video games are hot while sports is dying

Esports are thriving: Watch hours on Twitch have increased by 23%. Watch hours on YouTube Gaming Live increased by 10.7% and on Facebook Gaming by 3.8%. Twitch surpassed 3 billion hours watched on the platform in Q1 2020.

With all major-league games called off, the use of ESPN’s website has fallen sharply since late January; at the same time, several video game sites have had surges in traffic, as have sites that let you watch other people play.

 

Covid-19 has been a double edged sword for many of these companies and brands.

 

While companies like Shopify are reporting that they’re handling Black Friday level traffic every single day, many others that sell physical “stuff” are hurt bad.

 

 

They make that stuff in factories, and those factories are usually in China. And COVID-19 has shut down factories and shipping routes, causing all sorts of production delays. Amazon, which relies on a business model centered around making a box appear at your home in less than 2 days, has wait times that are as long as a month.

 

So, for now, unfortunately, you’ll have to wait a month for your bespoke bed linens.

 

Today creators have so many ways to make money on the internet, but it’s still very hard. Artists have been shape-shifting to adjust to new platforms and scale up their audiences to monetize their content.

 

Those who are set to benefit from this surge of traffic are:

  1. Digital Publishers
  2. Esport athletes
  3. YouTube Stars & Personalities
  4. Citizen Journalists

 

Patreon makes it easy for artists and creators to get paid. Predictable income from your patrons means you can work on your terms. Some like Cent puts the creator and their work at the forefront. They’re designed to provide income for both the creator and the fan through two mechanisms:

1. ‘Seed a Creator’ and get rewarded
2. ‘Spot’ a post, and show you like it.

 

By backing creators early on, fans can also “earn” in their eventual upside. That incentivizes fans to become evangelists, meaning everyone wins in the production of new creative work.

 

 

This pandemic is ushering in the information age at full force. Move online to stay relevant or fade away into the background.

 

Today a blog is a must-have. It’s your namecard. Well, how would you best introduce yourself to thousands of strangers in the realm of cyberspace?

 

Building a following on social media or someone elses’ backyard is like building a castle out of sand, as the implacable tide shifts in and out. Invest in the universal themes of the free and open web such as blogs, podcasts, newsletters.

 

It brings asymmetry, you now have a lot more to gain than to lose venturing into cyberspace.

 

Start a news site, break news on Twitter , provide insights into the latest trends. Twitter is a microphone. Fire people up with controversial ideas. You might even get hired on Twitter.

 

 

Start a newsletter. Build your community. Make money being who you are. From ideas in your head. No one can compete with you on being you.

 

You get rewarded for thinking differently. (While in school you get punished for being a maverick)

 

You see, I was brought up with boundaries, curfews and rules. While a career in engineering would have brought me some form of illusory comfort & social conformity, building on the internet made it possible for me to choose where to work. It is where the meek and the mighty meet on equal terms. It grants the individual supreme sovereignty.

 

I write about this with the entirety of my soul and a decade-long experience as a solo-preneur taking on the world; I write with my scars, hence my thought is inseparable from autobiography. This has become a personal growth engine for me, disguised as a worldly business pursuit.

 

“In the middle of the journey of our life I found myself within a dark woods where the straight way was lost.Dante Alighieri

 

Everyone can now start a blog, launch a news outlet, publish a bestselling book without needing to come from a privileged background.

 

 

You can even build websites like Facebook, Amazon, YouTube, Netflix and Slack without writing a single line of code.

 

Imitation is flattery. You can recreate the internet’s biggest hits using a simple point-and-click visual web editor. Bubble and Zeroqode is leading the way in the no-code future.

 

Better still, if you’re interested in UI and UX, it’s an opportunity to look under the hood to see how these popular sites were built piece by piece. Although you likely won’t want to build a carbon copy, you can easily adopt some frameworks to fit your product vision. What’s to say you can’t build the next Google or Facebook?

 

These were websites started by kids in their dormitory meddling with things they don’t understand during their own free-time.

 

This is how to recession-proof your future income. Work on something without thinking about short-term monetary compensation. Provide immense value. Solve problems and the crowd will love you for it.

 

Is doing ALL this too late?

 

Heck, No. When the internet came along in the 90s, was it too late in the 2000s to build a way to connect friends and family? No, it wasn’t late for Facebook, neither was it late for Uber, Instagram, Airbnb, Google.

 

New ideas and audacious imaginations will continue to displace legacy ones. The internet will still be the wild west for billions of iterations.

 

It’s not going to change for the foreseeable future. Cyberspace is the final frontier. It’s the way we connect. It’s the way we live. This is the blind spot that the average Joe fails to see.

 

This crisis is also changing the future of Banking Money. More accurately, there will be no more need for banks or middle men. This is something that would eventually take place with great certainty. Why?

 

Imagine an ATM in your pocket. Better still, imagine you have the whole U.S. Navy guarding your precious gold. Now that’s the technology given to us by Satoshi Nakamoto.

 

Bitcoin is the kind of money for a digital civilization without borders. 5000 years of monetary evolution have come down solely to this. It’s a native born on the internet, not bound by any borders, jurisdiction or entities.

 

It’s neutral. It’s solving problems on a global scale. The need for undebasable money. The need of the underbanked. It removes rent-seekers and parasites from governance. Thereby separating money from the state.

 

 

What we have come to know as fiat money all these decades is nothing more than a system of control by the elites. A plaything for the rich. While the poor and middle class subsisted on handouts and slave away their time for inferior money. Like an indentured servant.

 

This is the kind of environment that Bitcoin thrives in. Massive handouts & crazy stimulus as a stopgap measure for the governments lack of preparedness and incompetence.

 

We do not need to predict specific adverse events to know that a buffer is a must. Mother nature gave us two kidneys when we only need about a portion of a single one. Why? Because of contingency.

 

How Stalin starved four million Ukrainians to death, in 1929. (Sovfoto/UIG/Getty Images)

Bitcoin is a contingency plan for when panicked governments crush the helpless individual through their policies.

 

History tells us that the Black Plague caused misery and death. What they don’t tell us is that it also gave birth to the Renaissance.

 

Isaac Newton changed the world while in quarantine from the Great Plague of London. In isolation, he discovered the laws of optics, gravitation and calculus that led to groundbreaking discoveries.

 

Maybe this time, this’ll give birth to a revival of the Renaissance.

 

“Some changes look negative on the surface but you will soon realize that space is being created for something new to emerge.” — Eckhart Tolle

 

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