If I were to paint a picture of the nation and world’s current economic situation, it’d be pretty bleak.

The picture might be of an oil tanker speeding straight toward a rocky beach, a volcano erupting near a city or a prehistoric mammoth being speared by a tribe of hunter-gatherers. In short, the large and secure things that we’ve always trusted are being shaken. When you don’t know what tomorrow holds, life gets pretty strange.

This financial chaos has been speculated and predicted by certain economists. One of the more prominent voices has been Nouriel Roubini, also known as Dr. Doom Roubini, a New York University economics professor.

Two years ago, he accurately predicted that shoddy lending practices would lead to bank instability, and he was right. Earlier this year, he postulated that major banks would most likely go under after a slew of sub-prime lenders. Well, major banks have definitely gone under — Washington Mutual is proof positive.

Roubini’s other predictions have come true as well. He claimed that global markets would experience a nasty credit crunch, and they have. Iceland’s financial system has imploded, and many foreign investors with money in the country’s banks have lost great sums. Russia is struggling just to keep its stock market open.

Roubini recommended that our government take a greater role in regulating the banking system and even start major public works projects to create jobs and revenue for Americans, many of whom he predicts will be out of work in the next year or two. The phrase he’s using to describe the global situation is a “systemic financial crisis,” which includes widespread unemployment, market instability and uncertainty.

I’m personally afraid of what this entails. Are we going to have to buy guns and canned food just to survive?

Will everybody have jobs to work and food to eat?

We’ve never imagined living in any other world than the growth-happy, product-rich,

food-abundant one we live in now. But if the government can’t take the steps necessary to protect our lifestyles, and if we expect our standard of living to continue, then we may be in for a cruel surprise.

Although we’re content to go to school and work now, there’s no telling what tomorrow may bring. Save your money. Don’t spend it on trivial trinkets. Try trusting in the basic joys of life, such as simple home-cooked food. Expand your knowledge of money. Now is a great time to get educated about what the market is doing — some people are even investing and spending. Read economists who have been proven right, like Roubini.

The greatest thing that this crisis may do for us is make us wiser. If we end up spending less, saving more and lowering our debt, than maybe a recession was what we needed. Maybe we’ll start out on a more fiscally sustainable foot when this is all over.

Reach columnist Jackson Rohrbaugh at opinion@dailyuw.com.