Nothing to Fear

And you know the famous end of this sentence from FDR: there is nothing to fear but fear itself.

As a career coach speaking with a variety of talented but recently unemployed people around the country, I hear fear on the other end of the phone. I don't blame any of them. "What can I do to prepare for a new job if there isn't anyone willing to hire until this whole financial debacle is resolved"

Until is what the optimists say.

I think we're in for a major transformation in how we view money, credit and where money even comes from. We are globally dependent and we're watching world markets quiver and change every day. We're interdependent in far more ways than we could have dreamed of even a month ago. It's all too obvious; as goes the American economy, so goes at least Western Europe, if not much of Asia. (I haven't heard a word about China in all this, other than we will be borrowing from them to pay for the inevitable bailout).

What will the transformation look like? It will be something closer to the 1930s than most Republicans would like, but that's too bad. We need to shore up our infrastructure, improve education and other systems for the general public good. We can also pump money and jobs into the economy with large government funded programs. Putting people to work to improve the inner workings of this country boosts confidence and develops skill. Improving education promises a future. The free market will not die with this solution. It's time to bolster the confidence of the US citizens and from there to show the world once again our resiliency.