The economy, superficially, appears to be okay (after all, we're "enjoying" Bidenomics, right?), but that may be due to the fact that things have not yet burst down to where most people live. But due to the escalating tensions in the Middle East, the threats to curtail the release of oil may become an actuality. If this happens - and it will happen if full-scale war breaks out involving Iran and other nations - we can watch much of our remaining economy go up in gas fumes because of what will be the extremely high price of gasoline at the pumps.

The sad fact of the matter is that since Biden took the Oval Office, he immediately began shuttering America's ability to provide fuel for itself, canceling the energy independence we enjoyed under Trump. Even though America has plenty of oil underground, both offshore, in places like Alaska and elsewhere, it has been deemed too dangerous for environment. However, we still use essentially the same amount of oil, which we now are forced to obtain from foreign countries. How does this help the environment?

This transfer of energy dependence means of course that we are held hostage to foreign nations and their determined price of oil to be. Even though gas is somewhat lower now than during Biden's first months in office, that price will likely drastically shift upward at a moment's notice, due to increasing conflict in the Middle East and/or other factors. If/when that occurs, the price of everything will go up. It's a given. Are you prepared for that? Most people are not and it's not because they haven't been planning, but more likely due to the limitations they exist under (fixed incomes, etc.).

The economy appears poised to worsen. Right now, apparently, the percentage of people who are at least 60 days behind on their auto payments has risen to an unprecedented level. Moreover, foreclosures are also going very high, reminiscent of what occurred leading up to the 2008 housing market crash.

Recently, Forbes wrote an article titled, Stock Market Crash Ahead. It doesn't paint a pretty picture. They're opening paragraph reads like this:

There's no ducking it now. The widespread, serious negatives have reached a critical level. There are no cures available except a major reset of investor beliefs, rationale and expectations.[1]

I encourage readers to read the full article linked below. I forwarded the article to our financial guy for his opinion. He came back with, "Good article and I'm seriously considering it's time to move to higher cash positions in many accounts. Let me know if you would like to be included."

What he meant was that he would take the bulk of our money (about 75%) and simply transfer it to Cash for 45 days or so to see what happens after that. This would mean that we would not lose any money if the Stock Market takes a major dive, but it also means we would not gain anything either. It's a safety net, so I told him to go head with that move.