I don't think I am being a Cassandra to say the worst is yet to come. From long past personal experience, those who who were well off can maybe skimp and save for about 3 years before it gets desperate...the clothes wear out, you've gone vegetarian, you are without a car. The people who were always desperate dispense advice to the formerly middle class on to how to survive.

So what can we do?

First we can realize we can't afford to wait until too many are poor. It takes some minimal and often a great deal of capital to get anything started. We may need to start talking to one another about pooling funds to start small American businesses to produce, advertise and distribute the goods and services we now import.

Maybe we need to reinvent "communes." I speak of farms near cities where families can get food and shelter as long as needed while they look for work or undergo job retraining, but also work hard to grow, preserve and prepare food for the community and or make clothing. Home industry might even be attempted. In this plugged-in age such groups could network to develop trade between themselves or collaborate with distribution. There are lots of possibilities. Will the hippies of old be our guides?

Do those of us who have jobs need to hire folks to do part-time jobs that have needed to be done for awhile? Does it mean stepping out on faith a little to invest in hiring others for awhile instead of building our savings?

I don't know how such outcomes would come to be, but if "lucky," people will begin to think creatively on their own behalf and on the behalf of others. Some of the bloggers here have of course been doing that for years, so as time goes by, they may have much to share with the general population.