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Maybe but that also assumes economies can actually be prepared for recessions. For starters, that means knowing what pieces of the economy are in a state that could trigger massive sell-offs and value destruction.

Remember that the housing bubble that led up to 2008 wasn't well-known. Granted, there were economists who were publicly saying a recession was imminent (and they weren't wrong), however they were outnumbered compared to those who were saying otherwise.

How does one get prepared in those situations? Tin foil hat, perhaps, and then pray?



Save money. Which is, I believe, the crux of this article's argument: people do not have enough cash on hand to weather the storm.


Yes, but that's a direct consequence of Fed policy from the last two recessions. What we really need is to get the Fed out of monetary policy entirely.


I'm not sure I agree. The personal savings rate in the US is directly correlated with age. With Boomers having the highest rate of savings and Millennials having the lowest.

Additionally, it fell from over 7% in 2013 (where it spiked briefly above 10%) to just 3% today. But during that time, there's been no real change in Federal Reserve policies.

https://tradingeconomics.com/united-states/personal-savings

If I had to bet, I'd say stagnant wages are the cause.


The first line of defense has been to lower interest rates. That can't happen currently.

A second line is to increase government spending. That seems unlikely.

The article notes that we have been reducing back-ups like food stamps and Medicaid. It would take time and political will to restore those.




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