In this coming year, the fragile quality of the world's financial condition will become glaringly obvious. People and governments in the western world will wake up to the fact that they cannot go on spending more money than they have and get away with it. In fact, many very rich people will barely have time to preserve existing finances. Get ready to swap those $4000.00 purses for some spanking new food stamps. Flog your $50,000.00 golf cart and learn how to walk again. Give up caviar and luxury cruises in favor of hot dogs, macaroni salad and a romantic rowboat ride on the local park lake. Forego smoked salmon and learn how to fish. This coming year will be about the prudent managing of finances, cost-cutting measures and trendy cheap backpacks made in China. It will also be about power.
Something intriguing about Rat years is that at first they appear to bode only wealth and bounty. But such glittering harvests are merely the calm before the storm and hunger pangs of future shortages. Nobody will be spared. Already in February, inflation will be on the rise. People all over the world will see their buying power diminish. My advice? Open a savings account. Plant a vegetable garden. Stash gold jewelry under your mattress. Junk the gas guzzler and buy a book of train tickets. Take the kids out of private school. Teach them at home. Learn to cook cheaper cuts of meat or eat no meat at all. Take pride in wearing handsomely patched jeans and be the first on your block to remember how to darn socks. In general, in the coming Rat year, do as the British were advised after WWII, "Make do and mend". We did it before and we can do it again. Might as well face it. Scantier days are ahead.
This year is not all bleak, drab and gray however. It's a splendid year for power grubbers who gain dominion over others. Dictators will thrive in this Rat year. Hoarders of foodstuffs get a leg up. It's also a banner year for owners of savings (and even piggy) banks. And it's a fabulous year for people devoted to living the simple life, playing music or party games at home with their children, going on picnics, taking advantage of free museum entries and walking everywhere instead of taking the car.
The inherently parsimonious Rat year is here to help us clean up our act. Join forces with Brother Rat. Dismount your cherished Hummer. Slog a bit and drudge a bit. Cut back and save. Take one paper towel instead of two at a time. If one doesn't do the job, you can always go back for more. Wash your own car and polish it too. Quit the expensive gym and ride your bike to work. If you co-operate with the spirit of the Rat year, you can expect to enjoy a carefree twelve months. But buck the system and continue to troll the thousand dollar handbag department at Nordstrom or Harrods's or Galeries Lafayette and your golden goose will flap its wings a few times and fall right over dead (next to the overdue credit card bills) on your snazzy $10,000 dining room table.
Children born in Rat years are luckier if their birthdays come in summer. They will not have to dig through the snow for provisions and can benefit from sultry sunshine to make the hay that they will so need to have stored away for the long, cold winter ahead.
