Handling the Truth

One of the easier things to understand in the Messenger of Doom business is that most people won't want to listen. Most people have enough problems with things as they are that they don't need to worry about what's coming in 10 or 20 years. Most of the rest figure there's nothing they can do now that will pay off in a measurable future. Even most Jim Kunstler fans get their weekly dose of impending collapse then go back to regular life.

Which covers normal people. The 27 percenters, who worship in the Cult of the Hand, hoping to be trickled on if they repeat the mantra? Them, I have no patience for. Soon enough, the increasingly violent insanity of the True Believers will split them from the profiteer, but that's another story.

So what am I doing about the near certainty that resource depletion will make a mockery of The American Way of Life in the near future? We've already gone through 10years of very little growth, declining stock values, and stagnating or worse incomes for almost everyone. And what have I done? Near squat. Minor conservation & aggressive saving indistinguishable from natural miserliness.

So, shouldn't there be some Big Steps towards preserving the future?

Oddly enough, this intersects with something I've been doing a lot of lately, financial planning. It's fairly easy to project how people will do under moderate economic assumptions. Your assets grow at 6%, prices rise 3%, you can spend $x per year and not expect to die broke.

So what's the chance your retirement village will be overrrun by a desperate horde? And what can you do to prevent it?

I'm seriously considering whether root cellars & ammo should become part of the planning process. Fortunately, I work in a nut friendly environment.

In the meantime, might as well get off the computer, hug somebody, read a book, and help somebody else practice for a math competition next weekend.