If we listen to economists, the end of the recession is close but it is not close enough for many people to look beyond the need for payday loans. There is still the need for people to survive and pay bills with less income than they were making before the onset of the current recession.

How everyone weathers the remainder of this economic downturn remains to be seen, but looking around, we can see the economic damage it has caused with foreclosures and repossessions at a very high rate and several states reporting double digit unemployment figures. Of course we have to see it through until 2010—where does that leave those who are still unemployed or working for less money than they need to pay their bills?

Can people survive until the economy improves again?

Some people may be prepared for the rest of the economic downturn but what about those who came ill-prepared for a recession worse than we weathered in 1981? What are the chances of people pulling out of this and still having their sanity and finances in tact? It’s a long road to go yet to 2010, and there are no guarantees. Predictions have been known to be wrong—after all they tried to tell us two years ago we weren’t in a recession when all the signs were there in front of us.

Companies that have been in business for over a hundred years are shutting down or filing bankruptcy because they can no longer make a profit. Certainly we can blame some on an increase in online shopping but the majority is because people just can’t afford to buy things they don’t absolutely need.

Helping everyone pull through the economy

If we are to believe the predictions that the economy will begin to turn around in 2010, we need to begin looking toward helping people survive until then. There are some ways to pull through including loans of various types. There are even loans online.

For so many people, it’s essential to help them weather the storm so that when the economy begins to turn around, they will still have everything they need to resume their former lives. How soon that will be lies in the hands of not just the new Obama administration but also the rest of the country as well. Each person must do his or her part to help with the recovery process.

Will the stimulus package help us recover?

This is what President Obama is hoping but again, we will have to wait and see what happens. Payday loans can help for the short-term but we must also look toward the long-term and see how we are going to move forward and avoid another recession of this magnitude.

The choices we make as citizens of this country and as taxpayers will have a major impact on how soon and how well we recover from the current economic downturn that has plagued us for the past few years.

So maybe the country’s “best” financial minds didn’t make predictions about payday loans, but they sure did try to tell the future about a few other things. As the year winds down, Peter Coy had the right idea for looking back on some of the predictions people made about this year and pointing out just how wrong they were.

I’ve picked a few of my favorite predictions to discuss, and maybe if you’re lucky, I’ll make a few predictions of my own for 2009. After all, I can’t be more wrong than these guys.

Excuse me, Mr. President

I always think it’s funny when people say it’s unpatriotic to make fun of the president. I mean, wasn’t part of the reason he was elected because he was a “regular guy?” I say if he is a regular guy, then he is fair game for mockery, just like everyone else.

Well this year he showed just how regular he is when he said in March, “The market is in the process of correcting itself.” OK, so that is debatable, I suppose. Perhaps it is still in the process of correcting itself. Perhaps crashing, reaching record lows and recession are all part of the correction process.

Not only did he win, it was a landslide

Speaking of presidents, Shelby Steele was not alone when he predicted that Barack Obama could not be elected. I heard it from countless people — Republicans, Democrats, Whites, Hispanics, Hawaiians, you name it.

So what makes Steele’s prediction extraordinary? Well, he seems to be the only one who wrote a book about it. Wikipedia says Steele is a nonfiction author. However, after reading the title of his book published in December 2007 (”A Bound Man: Why We Are Excited About Obama and Why He Can’t Win”), I beg to differ.

I wonder how many copies that book sold. Perhaps Steele will have to take out payday loans to make ends meet before his next literary masterpiece hit the shelves.

How about those gas prices

Gas prices, gas prices, gas prices. For a few months there I felt like I couldn’t make it through an entire conversation about anything without gas prices coming up. It seemed the high price of gas affected so many different facets of life, it was impossible to escape.

One businessman in June predicted that the prices would continue to go up. OK, maybe not ONE businessman, but here’s what we have on record:
“I think you’ll see (oil prices at) $150 a barrel by the end of the year.”

That quote was by T. Boone Pickens, and at that time, oil was at $135 a barrel. But I don’t think Mr. Pickens was the one person who was surprised when oil prices began dropping … and dropping and dropping.  Now they have hit below $40 a barrel.

2009 is lookin’ mighty fine

So what do I predict for the year to come?  I predict that more people will argue that Global Warming is a myth, Michael Moore will make a documentary about alternative fuel sources and Britney Spears will have another baby.

I predict that more people will make inaccurate predictions. But I think that, just like this year, I will be glad they were wrong. And I predict I might need payday loans to make up for all the work I missed because of the snow.

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