What are you going to do after the coming big stock market crash?

As a pendulum sways from end to end, sometimes situations in life act in a similar fashion. The U.S. and Canada have let things go too far from one end to another and it is time to bring the countries back to where things can fall back in line with our world economy.

The U.S. has begged, borrowed, and taxed its citizens to the point where many could enjoy a more comfortable lifestyle on welfare rather than putting in a good day's work. The ability of the U.S. and Canada, not our minds' to produce has spoiled the country by providing our society with something against which to borrow the country's future standards of living. This coming market correction will bring the U.S. and Canada back to the land of living by forcing us to accept modern-day reality: lean, motivated, and able.

Along with much of North American society, the U.S. has become a country laden with complacency and waste. Rather than attempting to find a more suitable alternative for those that create unnecessary waste, government and business alike have contributed to the decline of the U.S.'s economic status in the international community. The U.S. must use this as a wake-up call for the government, the business community, and each individual in the U.S. to take notice of what has transpired in the last several decades to bring our country to this point of chaos.

Presently, one in three Canadians is somehow employed by the government, whereas under modern conditions, that number should be as low as one in every twenty. The U.S. has been inundated with literally thousands of branches of government throughout the U.S. All these areas of waste must stop if the U.S. and Canada wish to compete in these harsh economic times. Unfortunately, those in power tend to be verbose lawyers with a propensity toward complexity and inaction. Decades from now, if our country is still on the map, an American or Canadian child will study this era of history as the “Commission and Committee" period. So much of our resources are spent studying and researching, and the final product never arrives.

There can be no better motivation to return to the years of penny-pinching and thrift than a good market collapse. After all those years of ridiculing our grandparents for their stories about the great depression and sharing one pair of shoes between four children, there is a lesson to be learned. We are the result of several consecutive decades of prosperity and it is time to remember that this generation is part of a world with finite resources and vast disparities of wealth. This is a chance to clear the slate and renew the differences. Competition can be based on capabilities and initiative, rather than country of origin. More specifically, the U.S. must learn to fend for themselves in this era of devotion to the attainment of excellence in all fields of endeavor.

A cultural change is required to achieve the turnaround necessary. The coming crash will facilitate the metamorphosis. A renewal of American and Canadian values must be a priority. Currently, North American children and young adults are bombarded with the notion that they are too good to get their hands dirty. Society unduly frowns upon those individuals who are born and raised in this country and aspire to attain a blue-collar related job.

There is a prejudiced mis-association between the title of one's occupation and the level of one's intelligence. If we continue along this path of prejudice and misplaced values, the U.S. will never recover: everyone is of potential value to society. Individual value comes from the effort put forward to maintain a viable situation. If the U.S. does not change its values and accept cultural norms, the end is not near; it is here!

Various doomsday prophets have been screaming at the top of their lungs since 9/11 and they were scoffed at as heretics. Unfortunately, many experts tell us that North America is at this point. The sign of a truly great individual and a truly great nation is the ability to take an awful situation and make it smell like a bed of roses. However, action must be taken now. The longer the country waits, the more disastrous the situation becomes and our lives will never turn ourselves around after the crash. The U.S. will be a dead and bloody carcass with vultures circling overhead. It seems all too obvious who we will be feeding - our neighbors in the Orient.

Disaster has struck and the opportunity to right a wrong is there for the taking. No single individual is capable of accomplishing a country turnaround. Together, united in the fight to return for the right of self-determination, the U.S. and Canada can come back to the envious position of having both natural and national resources. North America needs strong industries. Americans and Canadians know the results of too much government; let us see if we can enjoy the rewards of too little.

By: Mark Borkowski, is president of Toronto-based Mercantile Mergers & Acquisitions Corporation. He can be contacted at www.mercantilemergersacquisitions.com