I read an obvious but interesting article on www.cnn.com the other day about our stress levels. Check out the article here. http://www.cnn.com/2008/HEALTH/conditions/10/07/economic.stress/index.html
Our lives are in turmoil right now and of course we're stressed. We always experience stress in our lives but the past few months are pushing many of us over the top. As gas prices doubled this past summer our lives changed because many of us couldn't afford to drive our cars to work. People had to choose whether to feed their family or fill up their tank so they could drive to work. As gas prices rose, food and energy prices quickly followed. The cost of living was rising but our wages remained the same or even worse, many of us lost their jobs because of layoffs. Life became very difficult for all of us.
The collapse of the mortgage industry triggered the largest financial collapse since the 1929 stock market crash. Greedy lenders, out to make a fast buck, lent money to families that really couldn't afford their homes. The result was a record number of home foreclosures. To dilute the risk, banks split up the risky mortgages into millions of pieces and sold the pieces to other banks and lenders. This worked well until these risky mortgages adjusted their rates to the market level. People suddenly saw their monthly mortgage double, triple and even quadruple overnight. Of course they couldn't pay the new monthly payment so they lost their homes to foreclosure. Suddenly the banks owned thousands of undervalued homes instead of the risky mortgages. The result? Many major banks and investment banks went bankrupt.
Some of the largest car dealerships are going out of business. General Motors is on the verge of bankruptcy. Everyone is feeling this economic collapse and it will affect all of us for a very long time. No wonder we're so stressed.
If you live in the San Francisco Bay Area, my friends, Michael North, Volker Frank and Sanford Friedman are doing a workshop this week about controlling your stress. You can sign up for the free Brown Bag Lunch meeting at http://marketing.meetup.com/289/calendar/8939102/ The meeting is on Thursday October 16th at Noon in my San Rafael office. Technorati Tags: stress, stress reduction, General Motors, bankruptcy, stock market crash
