Mister Talker here makes a wonderful point. We are all responsible for the state of the world. True our forefathers are responsible for the way things are set up when we take over, but we do decide whether we are or are not going to accept that modality.
There are numerous studies on how the individual conscious effects the world around it. Many of these with astounding conclusions. I am not going to go into details on these here, but focus more on the psychological and political views.
The Great Depression wasn't due to a bad economy. True this helped a ton, but the real culprit was the people of the time. The economy was low, and people panicked, there was a rumor through the grapevine that banks didn't have the money to back their accounts. These people all "closed" their accounts, or made mass withdraws all at once. This put a ton of pressure on the banks, as most people know, banks don't have all of the money at hand, and back then they were even less stable than they are now. Due to this, the bank system crumbled.
This can also be seen from a corporate perspective as well. How do you prevent a recession? You make money. Well, as soon as corporations "lose" money, they start to layoff. Most people don't realize that if a corporation reports a loss, that doesn't mean they actually lost money, it means they didn't make as much money as they did the previous quarter or year.
So the corporations lay off workers. The unemployed workers then save the money they have, or have no money period. Because the workers have no money, they have no money to buy things that the corporations have to sell. Thus the corporations make less money, panic more, and lay-off more workers.
Really the only way to prevent a depression is to 'pretend' like there isn't one. If everybody keeps working, everyone is making money, and then the economy thrives. This alone is a physical description of the power of the mind.
Another way to prepare for 2012 is knowledge. Informing people about what the future may hold. Present possibilities, ideas, and theories to as many people as you can. The more minds you have working towards the same goal, the more likely that goal is to succeed.
If people learn to harness their abilities, control their fears, and lay down the foundations for the future, we have nothing to worry about. The American Government controls because we the people let it control. Then we complain that they're not doing what we want them to, but do nothing about it. In most other countries the government fears the people, not the other way around. For a 200 year old country that thinks we know it all, we sure as hell go about things ass backwards. People are freaking out about another depression, well the only economic regression we've had almost broke our country. We don't handle the bad, we just don't do anything.
The lack-of-action is still an action. Deciding to do nothing is still a decision. You choose your fate, whether you realize it or not. Sometimes you don't have the choice to "make" things, your only option is to "change" them.
I have started out ignoring any negative thoughts and influences that are impounded into me on an almost constant basis (Customers/Media/Govt). 6 months ago I convinced myself to ignore it all. I speak to and interact with such a vast array of different "degrees of society", political background etc etc of people from Janitors to owners/presidents of large corporations across the USA. I am in sales that deals with a broad spectrum of worldwide industry. I am very concerned that our collective conscious has reached a point of no return. We begin speaking of the downturned economy which in turn almost always turns to dire predictions from stable intelligent people. Believe me as a salesman keeping it positive and promising, in all aspects, is my job. I try to influence the conversation in an uplifting direction.
Problem is I hear it on a daily basis. People are readying themselves for a dramatic transformation. I am not a believer in the world ending but the more I interact with our brothers and sisters the more I am convinced the entire world is in for some sort of great transformation. I look forward to the change,as I believe it wont be pretty, but something that is needed to get us closer to our purity.
Vibra