Now For the Aftermath...

The bailout has been signed into law, and now the fun begins. :[

Put these on your to-do list:
1. Start looking for ways to maximize tax deductions and credits, because taxes are almost CERTAINLY going to go up in 2010. Continue to look for ways to shelter your income from taxes, as they are certainly going to skyrocket along with everything else. Here is where it will pay to keep abreast of the tax code and any changes made to it with the next administration.

2. Start looking for ways to make an income, however small, without a traditional job, because things are only going to get worse from here. Read up on how to barter, and how to live in the underground economy.

3. Stock up on commonly-used items NOW while you still have money coming in, and still have somewhat reasonable prices. We're probably not going to see daylight until 2013 at the earliest.

4. Prepare to snuggle up to Uncle Sam for any kind of stability--join the military for a job, free health care, free dental, etc, and go in the Navy or Air Force to avoid any Iraq/Afghanistan action. Also, this will enable you to sign up for welfare benefits without shame--you'll HAVE a job, but it doesn't pay for squat!

5. If ineligible for the military, you can snuggle up to Uncle Sam in a time-honored way--by signing up for welfare benefits.

6. Put your money wherever Morningstar says is still performing--last week, it was long government bonds @ 6%, and this was the best I could find sans elaborate risk. This is another way to snuggle up to Uncle Sam.

7. You might want to read up on Your Money or Your Life again to review the Vicki Robinson way of investing for the future--at this point, it may be the safest. You might also want to read up on how the Amish live day-to-day, because one day soon, life as you know it will escape affordability.

8. Things won't get any better economically-speaking until Democrats are out of power, and Obama most certainly will get elected this November--people who are already suffering will snuggle up to socialism for comfort, and Obama provides it. His first reign will be be over in 2013, and if he doesn't get re-elected, we'll start to come out of this. What you can do for yourself is vote the incumbent OUT with each and every ballot you come in contact with to prevent the all-consuming power and money grabs that shaped politics as we now know it.

UPDATE: Always be signed up for absentee or mail-in voting, because we simply cannot trust the electronic voting machines to accurately record our votes--also, they do not provide a place to write in any third-party candidates or other choices, such as my Jon Stewart/Stephen Colbert protest votes, and do not provide a paper trail to verify the vote.

9. If you are hunting/fishing/gardening-inclined, make that your new priority as far as food goes, because we're going to experience hyper-inflation as a result of this bailout package, and you may not be able to afford food--especially if you pile job losses on top of that.

10. If you haven't paid down or paid off your credit card debt and loans, and don't have a federal job of some sort, count yourself screwed. State jobs aren't going to be good enough, because states are turning to the Fed for help, and Uncle Sam can't help everyone--watch and see what happens to California. If you already have a federal job other than the military, and you were the last one hired in your department, prepare for laying off--it will come to that eventually.

We are heading toward an elaborately-engineered depression, and we will come close to re-living the 1930's. Just how deep it will be is unknown at this time, but it would be wise to expect and prepare for the worst as Congress-critters do their best to re-enact the very same moves that caused the last depression to hang on for so long. All that matter to them is power and money, and by signing this bill into law, they will have all of both.