Headline today is that 45% of the world’s wealth is gone in the recent economic storm.
But is this really true?
Depends on how you define wealth.
No one has destroyed gold bars, the semiconductor plants are still operating, barring soil erosion farms still can grow food. Snow still falls generating water and electricity for our use.
So is the wealth in the numbers on a paper that aren’t real or is it in the tangible assets?
I’d argue that true wealth is in tangible assets, sheep in the fields, hay in the barn, clothes on your back, real, physical things and that in real terms the wealth of the world is not down.
The only bad part is to convert some of those assets into usable stuff you need items that you must purchase with those fake dollars. Harvesting hay costs fuel we have to buy.
Those whose wealth and livelihoods depended on phantom dollars on paper growing in value unrelated to real tangible assets are in trouble. Those who maintained a connection to real physical assets are not nearly as bad off.
Want to help yourself in this crisis then start creating tangible assets. Plant a garden, keep a few chickens as inside cage birds for eggs, sew one item of clothing yourself. Generate real wealth and you can wait out the doomsayers bemoaning the loss of their paper profits.