How to make a fortune on doomsday

The world continues to move towards the December day when another doomsday is expected. While the collective psychosis comes and goes in waves, resonating with apocalyptical information propagating through media channels, the smartest ones are trying to make money on it.

The idea of ​​the end of the world is an informational product of the bored civilization, so making a profit on the impending apocalypse makes more sense in the media sector. While the doomsday cannot be compared with pornography in terms of the volume of traffic, it is sweet enough of a topic to attract vast masses of visitors.

In fact, the Internet is filled with alarmist sites, and some sites come back to this topic from time to time, using it as filler. However, the money earned by these sites is not that great, and services of many experts of "the end of the world" cannot be bought by these modest earnings.

The talks of 2012 started relatively recently. To be precise, before the 2008 crisis the Mayan calendar and other horrors associated with 2012 were very little talked about - the topic was on the periphery of the informational flow.

Delving into history, it is easy to identify the main beneficiaries of the past doomsdays. As a rule, the main initiator of the apocalyptic attitudes was the church. In order not to lose credibility among the believers, it did it not with its own hands but through the mouths of all sorts of renegades.

This allowed the bishops to have their little gesheft from the strained flock that rushed to atone for their sins hearing the "news." The focus of public attention thus shifted into a terrible future from the ugly present. Again, when the "doomsday" was "cancelled", everyone sighed with relief, and even unbearable reality seemed quite bearable. Thus the secular authorities also benefited from the panic around the apocalypse.

Each declared "end of the world" was a kind of collective therapy, coupled with counter-revolutionary pill. At different times different industries earned on human fears and skillfully adjusted to the expectations of a new wave of disasters. Once there were candle factories, and now, for example, there are manufacturers of travel gear for the "survivalist", arms manufacturers and dealers around the world. The U.S is experiencing a real gun boom and extremely high demand for the survival trainings.

The U.S. builders of underground bunkers are also on the rise. Each object they build ranges from 100 to 300 thousand dollars, and these bunkers are being built across the country.  

In pre-apocalyptic times the demand for esoteric literature, books, fantasy, horoscopes, magic services and stuff like that grows significantly. The contingent of the consumers largely overlaps (and sometimes runs back and forth) with clients of psychologists and psychiatrists. They, too, have to earn, and the mass hysteria comes in handy.

In the media sector the largest jackpot during the last apocalypse was taken by the filmmakers. The end was promised back in the year 2000. Hollywood prepared for the upcoming apocalypse with more aplomb. Only the film "2012" grossed $225 million. The end of the world is a cash cow for the game industry as this is, perhaps, the most salable topic among gamers in recent years. The number of documentaries filmed about this is beyond belief.  

In all probability, all associated expenses are more than compensated. It would be interesting to observe the dynamics of the purchases and what specific product categories are in demand after another alarmist program on a center channel. We can assume that tens of thousands of hands will reach out for a pack of cigarettes, some would need a drink after watching, and someone would require a sleeping pill.

Those deeply immersed in the subject of the apocalypse tend to increase their spending without even realizing it. It animates the demand in the economy, and that demand faded significantly in the recent years. Some people deliberately ignore their account balances and go and buy whatever they would not dare to buy: "What if this is in fact the end? " This results in spontaneous loans, purchase of luxury goods by people with low incomes, or purchase of tours in faraway countries. Much is implicitly skillfully fostered and promoted by the dominance of the apocalyptical background.

Naturally, Mexico that "privatized" Maya will earn on the end of the world. At one time it was the ancient Mayan civilization that predicted that in 2012 the world will end. The Mexican government decided to earn money on this by attracting tourists from around the world.

As promised by the country's Minister of Tourism Gloria Guevara, on December 21, 2012, Mexico will try to accommodate everyone who wants to be present at the "end of the world." Apparently, it must be concluded that the end of the world will happen only in Mexico, and the rest of world will not be affected by the apocalypse. However, it is too late look for common sense in all this mess of messages, opinions and expectations.

Just in case, the next "end of the world" has been already prepared. In May, even more ancient Mayan calendar was discovered.

Vitaly Salnik.