Chapter 2
Understanding Capitalism and Economic Downturns
IN THIS CHAPTER
Making sense of capitalism and inevitable downturns
Surveying past crises
Gleaning insight from tough times
Many folks don’t know about or understand the range of economic and political systems that exist around the world. That’s unfortunate because if everyone better understood this, more folks would appreciate how great the capitalistic system is in the United States.
No economic system is perfect, of course, and no economic system can sustain growth forever without downturns and some problems. In this chapter, I help you to better understand our economic system and the inevitable cycles of growth and downturns, which can sometimes include more severe recessions and financial crises.
In fact, I’m going to take you on a tour of some of the worst economic periods and crises during our nation’s history. Rest assured that I’m not trying to scare you or inhibit your desire to invest in stocks, real estate, or other growth assets. I’m actually taking this approach to maximize your ability and determination to stay the course during tough times and possibly even deploy available resources to buy/invest when prices ...
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