Stock Market Plunge: Airline Stocks Tank on Ebola Fears

The biggest consequence of our government’s complete inability to handle even a relatively small-scale crisis is being seen today in the stock markets. People throughout the country are waking up today to realize that the government has no clue what they are doing, and this illusion of preparedness is just that; an illusion.

Upon learning about the second U.S. transmitted case of Ebola this morning, in another nurse who treated patient zero, the stock market took a big hit falling over 400 points at one point this afternoon. Among the hardest hit were airline stocks which took a nosedive, with shares of the biggest U.S. airlines falling 4 percent and 6 percent in afternoon trading. Airline stocks started tanking when news broke that the second infected nurse traveled on Frontier airlines only hours before showing Ebola symptoms.

Shaking an already Shaky Economy

I’ve talked about this for some time now, and although the mainstream media continues to ignore how bad the economy really is, this current crisis could be the straw that breaks the camel’s back. The United States is now over 17 trillion dollars in debt, with all signs pointing towards another economic crisis like we experienced in 2008.

The truth, which nobody wants to talk about, is we are in much worse shape than 2008. The country has racked up trillions more in debt, and none of the problems that caused the 2008 crisis have been addressed in any meaningful way.

• Today, in a nation of 317 Million people, some 109,631,000 Americans now live in a household that receives government welfare.
• 26% of Americans have no emergency savings, and two-thirds of people in the U.S. don’t have the recommended six months of emergency expenses put away.
• The actual debt number, when you calculate unfunded liabilities, is somewhere right around $222 trillion.

What’s happening in this country should be a huge wake up call for anyone who isn’t prepared. Not only is the government completely unprepared to deal with this relatively small-scale crisis, but their handling of the Ebola threat, including how unprepared U.S. hospitals are, has exposed just how much danger this country is really in – and it’s not just the danger presented from Ebola, it’s the danger we face from an incompetent unprepared  system.

What can you do to protect yourself?

Months before this crisis broke, I wrote about many of these exact scenarios while working on my new book. Some of the things that I warned about seem to be happening right before our eyes, which really makes you wonder how an agency that receive 6.6 billion dollars in funding couldn’t see this coming.

The fact is, government bureaucracy has made us even less safe, and the only one that really cares about your health and safety is you!

• Don’t give into fear. There are things you can do to protect yourself from disasters, both man-made and natural ones. One of the most important aspects of surviving any crisis is mental preparedness. Don’t let the news make you feel like your helpless!
• Talk to Family about Preparedness. Whether it’s convincing your immediate family about the importance of preparedness, or talking to extended family and friends about why they need to prepare, the conversation is something you need to have if you really care about our loved ones.
• Have an Evacuation Plan & Build a Bug Out Bag. Your best bet for survival during an evacuation causing disaster is not getting caught up in the chaos – which means being able to make your escape BEFORE things go bad.
• Have an Economic Plan of Survival. When the number of people receiving government food assistance (101,000,000) surpasses the number of full-time private sector workers in the U.S. (97,180,000) we have some serious trouble brewing. The economy has been teetering on the edge for some time now, and it’s not going to take much to push it over the edge.
• Start Stockpiling Emergency Food, Water & Supplies. At a minimum you are going to want to have at least two weeks’ worth of food and water on hand at all times. Once you have that covered you can then start to build upon that initial stockpile, with a goal to build up enough supplies to last you for 3, 6 and then 12 months.