What’s Coming Down the Road?
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What will our economy look like in one to three years? Will our large national banks all be government-owned or will Wall Street figure out a way to sell stock to the public, which will bail out our government and return the banks to private ownership? Will the unemployment rate be 5% or 50%? Will our loans be forgiven? Perhaps the government will take over the non-performing loan portfolios and become the landlord of the millions who cannot afford housing. Will GM be 100% employee, union or government-owned? Or will all the plants be taken over by foreign manufacturers? I find it remarkable that between the date I began writing this article and today, this question has already been answered! I don’t believe that anybody knows where our businesses, or the economy for that matter, will be six months or thirty-six months from now. Frankly, I find it bothersome to speculate.
What I do know is that we all better start thinking about some of the variables that could take place over the next one to three years. Some changes could be wonderful and some could be devastating, but either way, there are monumental changes headed in our direction. Although change is often unsettling, it also has the potential to offer phenomenal rewards…history has proved this to be true. These uncertain times call for a new set of ideas and innovation in the marketplace to keep deals moving ahead. If there has ever been a time in our lives that we need to rely on each other, our networks, and the companies that we’ve worked so hard to build, now is that time.
Today, as we take a look around the world, it is obvious to see that what is taking place globally is affecting us nationally. The working-class citizens that drive the U.S. economy are slowly losing their jobs. Some of those jobs are finding their way to more efficient companies that operate overseas. Take a look at this website for a better understanding of what our job losses look like: http://tipstrategies.com/archive/geography-of-jobs/. I find this report very interesting. In increments, move the cursor from 2004 forward. Highlight the regional areas to see actual numbers. These disturbing findings should be a wake-up call to every entrepreneur and businessman alike to think of and create new ways to manufacture goods and services more efficiently and with better quality control than they can in other parts of the world. It’s time for America to think about its own survival.
As entrepreneurial real estate marketing professionals, we should all be chomping at the bit to map out the intricate details of today’s economy in order to find new methods of moving property. It would be time well invested to chart your own projections and predictions for the next thirty-six months. Being adaptable and ahead of the trends will be critical keys to survival as we live in this every-changing economic universe.
Tom Langel, S.E.C.
2009 President
