Is it normal to always be prepared for the end of the world?

I sincerely doubt the news will tell us what is going on. They much prefer distracting us with coverage of things like Michael Jackson's death.

But the world isn't ending. It is changing. And we should be prepared to deal with things like food shortages and economic failure. Pretending that all is well might calm the masses, but this isn't helping to solve any of the real problems the world faces.