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Category: polemic

Tues. Apr. 25, 2023 – time flies when you’re having fun

Cool and clear, damp, and maybe a chance of rain… so mostly just Houston.  It was another great day at the BOL following the rain.   A bit on the humid side, rapidly warming in the sun, but nice.

Met with the tree cutting guy.  Got a bid for the needed work.   Need to find time in the coming weeks to execute… not cheap, but seems reasonable for a crew of 7 and the work done.

Got a couple more small tasks knocked off the list.  Things like “change 2 of the outlet covers on the dock, to keep from electrocuting someone…”   Not high priority, but needed doing.   Poisoned some more fire ants.   Planted most of the blueberry and dewberry bushes.

When I used the hose to water in the bushes, I decided that I will have to add mechanical fasteners to the hose bibs, foam isn’t enough by itself.  I really don’t understand how they are meant to be fastened, the holes that look like screw holes are too small for any real hardware.  I’ll have to do some googling.  Details.   They’ll kill you.

Today I’ve got pickups, groceries, one drop off, and getting some dinner cooked.   I’ll be frying up the fillets my fishing buddy gave me.   Should make some other fried food to go with them.   Hope they’re delicious…

Got the annual bill from XM radio.  We have three subs, one for each vehicle.   The bill was over $1000.   Yeah it’s less than a dollar a day for each vehicle, and we both listen to XM by preference, but times are tight and getting tighter.   Wife called to cancel or downgrade plans… and they offered 70% off for a year, if she switched packages.   Ok.  There was still a big savings and we still don’t have to listen to commercial radio.  Win win, for now.

I mention it because of the belt tightening aspect.   We’ve got some big expenditures coming, so we are looking to save what we can where we can.  I work pretty hard at it in fact.  We’ve been coasting on things like subscription services though.   I bet a lot of people have, and I bet a lot of them will be cutting back soon if they haven’t already.

Jerry Pournelle always said storytellers would do ok in bad times, so “entertainment” will continue to get money.   I’d bet that (smart people) will be looking at the value they’re getting and reduce spending.   I get pretty good value out of a used book, it costs far less than $1/hour of use.   Some people get good value from a streaming service, watching more than enough shows to get under $1/hour.  Full price video games give outstanding value per hour, if you start with a used copy the cost is even lower.

Used DVDs are double that $1/hour, and movies and dinner out are WAY more.   Concert tickets, travel, and “experiences” are about to become the province of the well off.    Shopping as entertainment (“retail therapy”) is going to run up the credit card debt, or run up the return rate, but is likely to be cut back dramatically.   Doordash and similar services are convenient, but at some point even the innumerate will see that $15 on top of a fast food order isn’t doable.

Personal services, and “pampering” are almost sure to be cut back.  Fewer haircuts, massages, spa days.  Longer between nails and then less expensive procedures when you do get out…  except a certain parasite class that already overdoes these things on the tax payer’s dime.   When the tax revenues drop, even social programs should be cut.  Don’t know if they will, because of the rioting that would ensue, but I’d expect cuts in all the programs, even if they are just passive cuts, by not keeping up with inflation.

The result of all those spending cuts is job losses, which lead to more cuts, which lead to more jobs lost.  And then suddenly you are in a Depression with high unemployment.  Add the social unrest and the political upsets coming, and the malaise and hopelessness of unemployment, to the sudden appearance of obvious foreigners (as the lily pads covering the pond double seemingly overnight) and you’ve got a dangerous toxic mess.

I can’t be sure what’s coming, but for this summer, I’ll quote Ralph Wiggum from The Simpson’s – “It tastes like burning…”

Stack it up.

 

nick

Wed. Apr. 5, 2023 – The posts are mostly irrelevant…

Warm and damp.  Chance of rain.  Maybe a lot of it.  Depends on which forecast you look at.   I’m going with “someone will get some rain”.   Yesterday the wind out of the Gulf seems to have blown the predicted system north of us.   We had overcast all day but no precip.

I finally got up on the roof and replaced the batteries in my weather station.  And it didn’t make a difference in the “77F and 84%RH” displays.   Time to dig out the backup.  While I had the ladder out, I cleaned off the roof.   The pollen pods (like little caterpillars) were clumping and filling the valleys.  The sharp leaves from one of the oaks were also collecting and forming dams.   It all looks a lot better now that it’s clean.  Cleaned the domes on a couple of the cams. Then  I noticed that I have to do my annual ‘cutting back of the tree’ too.  Might be bi-annual this time around.  There’s a lot of growth too close to the roof.

I did a bunch of sorting and binning for the auction, but couldn’t do a drop off.   No reply from the auctioneer, and then I’d missed my window.   Had to pick up the kids.

Won a couple of things for the BOL and the house in yesterday’s auctions.   There is always something more I need, and an endless flow of stuff through the auctions means I eventually get a chance to bid on it.  Sometimes, I win.

Today I’ve got pickups to do.  Hopefully the rain holds off, but I think I can get everything in the Expedition if it’s pouring down.  Before that though, I have to get the house cleaned up.   My organizing and sorting means there is a ton of stuff piled up around the house.   No way can I leave that for my wife to come home to.   Wouldn’t be prudent.

We continue to head down the slope.   The arrest of Trump while Hillarity walks free, while epstein’s client list remains a state secret, while the Bidden crime family enjoys all the incest, hookers, and blow they can pay for with chinese money, is but one more step on the road to hell.  Trump doesn’t have to advocate for violence.   The left exercises violence as a means of intimidation and control every day, and the ruling junta uses the threat of violence with impunity.   Well, mark my words, that impunity won’t last.  They THINK they can control it, harness it, USE it.  “Look what you made me do!” but they’re wrong.   They always underestimate their opponent, and overestimate their own capability.

When it all goes live, it will happen in an eyeblink, and the whole world will change.   Get yourself as ready as you can be.   Stack the things you’d have to venture out to get.   Stack the things you need to be safe.   Stack what you need to KEEP the  things you have.  Stack.

And keep your eyes open and head down.

nick

Thur. Mar. 30, 2023 – where does the time go?

Cool and damp.   Supposed to rain.   But it’s Houston.   I got some rain on me yesterday.   It didn’t actually rain as such, which is why I say I “got some on me.”   I had drops of water from the sky hit me at various times of the day, in various parts of the city.   But it never actually rained.  It was even briefly sunny in places.

I spent most of  the day running around.   Did my pickups.  Gas is mostly between $2.89 and $3.09.   Went to Costco.   Costco had many of the things I missed last time back in stock.   Still missing the smoked almonds though.  Selection of rice and flour is still reduced.   Pork was reasonably priced (~$2.50/lb) and chicken was too, so I got some of each.   There were items on sale, just like pre-wuflu, although not as on sale.  They have something that looks like king crab for sale at only $25/lb. which is a huge decrease.  Of course it is ‘golden’ crab, and not actually Alaskan King Crab.  Mostly the same, almost as big…

And that seems to be the state of the world at the moment.  Mostly the same.  Almost as big.  Somewhat fewer choices.  And drab.  FFS, it’s drab.   Cars are all the same silhouette.  And selling in the same drab colors – black, white, red, dark blue, silver.   Houses are black and white.  I’m astounded by how many new buildings are black, white, and grey.   The store complex with our local Spec’s liquor store, Starbux, and various small storefronts just painted the whole brick complex white and black.  It was red, cream, brown, and natural brick  and stone colors.   The lack of color in the built world tells me that people are not happy and optimistic.

I’m seeing more homeless, and they are bolder.   They are sleeping and setting up housekeeping right in the open, right in the heart of commercial areas.  I’m also seeing more vacant commercial space at the same time there is an explosion of residential construction.   All those people moving here are going to need jobs, eventually, when their excess cash from selling in Cali but buying here runs out…

And don’t get me started on what passes for pop music.  What isn’t violent and nihilistic hedonism is depressing glorification of mental illness.

Nowhere is there conditioning for restraint, self control, or self sacrifice.   Those are three of the pillars that built and supported  western society.  And they’re gone from our stories, our heroes, and our culture.  That idea alone is probably worth an essay and a deeper look.

We grew up with those ideas firmly in place.   Our parents sacrificed so their kids could have a better life.   Their parents did the same, and sacrificed their bodies and minds in war in the belief that they had to, to build a future to live in.  Our stories and culture were suffused with the ideas of self restraint and self sacrifice, with the ordinary man expecting that to lead to success, and while for the hero the outcome was often his death, he did it anyway.  As individuals self sacrifice didn’t always lead to good outcomes, for society, SELF -restraint and -sacrifice, done by choice, led to a better world for everyone else.

And that’s almost entirely gone.  There are pockets.  Farmers.  Soldiers (warriors).  Parents. Teachers.  But in the ranks of those, the numbers decrease every year, replaced by parodies of what was.

It makes me sad to see fundamental changes like this.   There isn’t an easy or quick fix when something so vital (in retrospect) is removed from the culture.   I doubt that it’s even possible to get back to a point where those things can be restored, without a complete and massive destruction of what it’s become.   Things never “go back to normal.”   We are all of us and always changed by what happens to us and around us.

Stack all the things.  It’s going to be a while.

 

nick

Wed. Jan. 18, 2023 – well, that could have gone better.

Warmish, and certainly damp.   Although the national forecast shows clear for a while, I expect some minor precip at some point today or tomorrow, if only because it feels like it.  It was not bad at all yesterday, with highs in the sun in the low 80s.   Felt like spring.

I did get out of the house and made my trash run.   Went by my storage unit too.   Didn’t get half what I wanted to get done, done.  {wow, that’s an awkward construction}

It’s much easier to not do things than to do them.  Especially when you are tired, or bored, or melancholic… or you have unbalanced humours and too much black bile in your spleen.   Or it could be the siren song of teh intarwebs.  Whatever.   Slacked off again and got too little done.   The bill for that WILL come due, and be higher because of it.

It’s hard to maintain momentum and forward progress.  My whole working life was very project oriented, and the nature of the work was very ‘bursty’.   Work hard for a while, then have time off.   Even working full time for BigCorp I was traveling to customer sites where I’d work, or the office in Canadia, or fighting to get my expense and travel report in on time…. all of which took bursts of hard work, focus, and sometimes dogged determination to just get through it.  But then there would be some time where nothing was required of me or the level was so low I could phone it in.   Sprints rather than marathons (although the sprints could last as long as a marathon), quick anaerobic strength moves, not aerobic workouts.

Lately though, and coming after 3 years of not normal, it’s been a never ending slog.   Anyone else noticed we don’t do the ‘what have you done to prep this week’ topic any more?  Because we’ve been living the disaster for the last three years.   But this one is really fading to black, despite the spasms and paroxysms of the powers that be.   Problem is, no formal end.   No closure.   No doing the expense report, AAR, “lessons learned” meeting.  No putting the files away and cleaning up the workspace… and moving on.

But there is another disaster coming.  There is ALWAYS going to be another disaster coming.  To riff off of JimB, the end will be ‘nearerer’ again sooner or later.  Flooding and mudslides in Cali, and an earthquake, barely ping our awareness.   Tornadoes and freak storms in the mid-South hardly register.  Maybe we’re all fatigued, disaster fatigued.   That would be bad by the way, because we wouldn’t be thinking straight, we’d be mentally pliable and subject to manipulation.   We’d be looking for someone to make it end.  And that ain’t good.

I’m not sure what the answer is.   Kinda making this up as I go along today, but I think some of us (me) need to reset our baseline expectations.  Accept that what we’ve got now IS normal, and move on to living in it, and getting ready for whatever comes next.  Just about everything is harder now, takes longer, and costs more than 3 years ago.   But humans are nothing if not adaptable, and adept at telling ourselves stories that justify or excuse or motivate.   In a sense we will our personal reality into shape around us.   We enter and leave relationships, surround ourselves with people and things, spend our lives doing stuff, and shape our experience of the world.

The world goes on doing its thing regardless of what we’re doing.   The elephants will dance while we mice hope we can avoid being stepped on.  And one day we realize that the dancing changed the shape of the world around us.   There are still mice in the world though even after the elephants have trampled everything flat.

And mice gotta eat, so stack some food.   Stack the means to get more.    Stack dancing shoes, if you think that will help.   Stack books on living with elephants while avoiding their big stompy feet.   And get ready to get through the NEXT disaster.

nick

 

Mon. Dec. 5, 2022 – ho ho ho, who wouldn’t go…

Sunny and cool, warming later.  I hope.  That describes Sunday pretty well, with highs in the 70s.  To bad I was inside all day.

I did get a bunch done.  Had the water off for 8 hours.  Never could have done that if the kids were here.   I summarized what I got done in comments yesterday.  Despite the late start, and late finish, I feel good about it.

Today should get me that much further along, and maybe I’ll have time to do some cleanup so the bride doesn’t walk into a mess with her folks next weekend.   Working kitchen and bath, oh my.  I’ll give it the old school try…

The sense of urgency hasn’t left me.   I noticed that I haven’t been posting much in the way of prepping.   I think it’s because we’ve been living in the slow motion disaster that was chinkyflu for the last (almost) 3 years.  We were prepping for that, and prepping for it to get worse.   Then we got into a sort of holding pattern where we were just glad it was getting better.  With no clear end, it wasn’t like a storm that passed and now we can cleanly move on.   So it drags.

Meanwhile, I’ve been focused on my personal life, getting the BOL up to speed mainly.   This year flew by.  It’s pretty clear though that we are in an economic downturn (at best) or the beginning stages of an economic collapse, (bad), or the early part of a world changing war (worst).   There is plenty of prepping still to be done for any of those scenarios or all of them.   It just looks different than prepping for a specific event.

Conserve your money and resources.   Accumulate everything you think might be in short supply, including friends.  Plan for a long period of badness, with varying intensity.   Think about WWII on the homefront, the Great Depression, the Carter malaise… all those things were survivable, and most people did.  Some didn’t.  Some people did very well.   Some lives were changed completely.  The WORLD changed, and it will again.

Will some new place become ascendant as the US did after WWII?   We survived with our manufacturing intact, greatly expanded in fact.   And we absolutely killed it in a time when making stuff was the basis of prosperity.   I don’t know what comes next, but I’m pretty sure it will be different, and very few people will see it coming.

Plan to get through what is coming.  Vow to not just survive, but to THRIVE in what comes next.   To my mind, that’s a lot more inspiring than just enduring.   But.  If all you can do is endure, then do that.  Do it better than most, and make it through.   That is key.  Be here for the boom that follows.

Stacks will help.

nick

 

Thur. Nov. 17, 2022 – don’t know about you, but I’m ready for ’22 to be done…

Cold and damp again.  40s to start the day, warming a bit.  Sunny, if we’re lucky.   It was clear yesterday but the sun wasn’t out much.  We might get a high in the low 70s.

Spent the day sorting auction items.   Didn’t get anything dropped off at my auctioneer.  That slipped to today.  I’ve got a pickup this morning, so I’ll be out of the house and moving earlier than usual.  That will help me get my stuff done.

I got some paper work done, and some household stuff done.  Not much, but a little.   Perhaps today will be a bigger work day.

I haven’t been commenting much on the election, the war/ongoing money laundry in Ukraine, or any other politics, because I’m worn out.  My ‘give a flock’ is all used up.   A while ago I mentioned someone observing that people were ‘pulling in’ their circles of friends and attention.   They are focusing on issues and people closer to home.  I think that is what is happening to me too, and I didn’t really notice at the time.   It seems pretty clear now though.

When times get tough, your attention and what you care about condenses.   I once asked my mom what her experience of the Vietnam war was.  She married in 1965 and started having kids.   She replied that she didn’t pay much attention to it.   She had several babies in diapers and then toddlers and young kids for the duration.   Her brother was serving overseas, but not in country, iirc.   To look at media from the time, you’d think everyone was involved in the war in one way or another, but that’s simply not true.   It AFFECTED everyone, but didn’t dominate at home, for a new wife and mother anyway.

Times were tough, and her attention was focused inward.  It’s hard to care about other peoples’ troubles when you have troubles of your own.

I’ve also not been posting a lot of basic prepping stuff.   That’s mainly because at this point, Bob or I said most of it.  Have food, water, shelter, defense, and meds.  As much as you can.   Avoid trouble if you can.   Get your house in order.  That means relationships and networks and circle of friends too.  ESPECIALLY circle of friends.  They are the people who will help you get by, or dime you to the Feds.  VERY important to get that right.  Far more important than I ever thought it was when I started this journey.

Remember too that life is what happens when you are doing other things.   These are the ‘good ol days’.   Live them.  Pay attention.  Don’t be so focused on the future that you miss the present.   My prepping is so intertwined with my daily life that I barely think of it anymore as something separate that needs to be done.   Equipping and preparing the BOL brings some of it to front of mind, and I try  to share that, but otherwise, it’s just normal every day life.  As I meet more of my neighbors up north and talk with them I see that “prepping” is really just “what we’ve always done” for a whole lot of people.  If you aren’t one of those people, you really need to look for them and learn everything you can from them.

I am convinced more than ever that this is one of those times when everything changes.  There will be disasters along the way, and plenty of strife and hard times.    But there are still Romans in Rome.  We’ll get through this.   It just won’t be pretty or easy.

Preps will help.   Stack ’em up.

nick

Tues. Nov. 8, 2022 – Vote. Make them work for it.

Not really cool, and certainly damp.   Then not really hot, and still damp, although actual cool is supposed to be coming.  Just not today, or yesterday.   It was 93F in the sun at my house in the afternoon, according to my unfortunately placed weather station.   Radio said 80F at 5pm, so I’ll take that as more accurate, but still, 80F!

Oh well.  Mostly caught up on auction stuff.   Fewer bargains as more people find the auctions and bid.   Fewer bargains at the thrift stores too.   The stores have raised prices (as they do periodically, when they get jealous of resellers), and they are FULL of resellers looking for a “come up”.  They are having the same staffing issues as the rest of the working world, and so shelves are a bit bare and the stores are disheveled.   Signs of the times.  Eventually the flow of free stuff to the thrifts will reduce or cut off, and there will be a shakeout in that industry too.   The ‘returns’ reselling space is getting very crowded with some of my long established auctioneers dipping their toes in this month.   The ‘little  guys’ might have a chance if their overhead is low, but the big guys have the capital and the staff, and can gobble up bigger lots.

As a nation, we can’t just open boxes from China, we can’t have an economy based on giving each other massages and haircuts, and we can’t just keep reselling the same cr@p to each other, ’round and ’round.   We have to make stuff, adding value to it as we do.   When I see all the stuff we used to make domestically in these estate auctions, it depresses me no end.   Clocks- we had dozens of manufacturers.  Ditto for radios, tools, household goods, textiles, white goods, appliances.  You could build your house, furnish it, park your car in it, and EVERY SINGLE THING would have been made by your neighbors and your countrymen.

It wasn’t just us.  Even Canada had a domestic industry for housewares, and even TVs.  Now we have chinese drywall, brazilian lumber, iron work imported from INDIA, clothing from vietnam, electronics from china and singapore, gasoline from Norway, and food from Chile.   We enrich the middle men, support virtual and ACTUAL slavery, while impoverishing our neighbors.   What can’t go on won’t.

Big changes coming.  Lots of people will be grist for the mill of change.

Try not to be one of them.   Live through to the other side.

Stack some stuff, then stack some more somewhere else.

nick

Wed. Sept. 28, 2022 – step into my parlor, said the spider to the fly….

Cool and nice, getting hotter later.   But NOW it feels like fall is here.   Wouldn’t get 65F in summer…  it did get hot later in the day yesterday but oh my that morning was glorious.

Did stuff all day long but it doesn’t feel like I got much actual work done.  Sometimes that’s just the way it is.

Today I’ve got more stuff to do, pickups, shopping for stuff for the BOL, and organizing.   There are a couple of things I need to get done before going out of town for another week, and possibly two.

Meanwhile the pace and intensity of conflict in the world is picking up.   I know it’s sky falling all the time, I’ve been reading old posts from a year ago, and more.   Hard to time the markets, and hard to predict when things will go kinetic.  But we have an aggressor, who has stated plainly and repeatedly that nuclear weapons are an option.   We have an attack on his national assets, for no reason that seems to make a bit of sense, but which will certainly cause other actions and reactions.  This same aggressor has instituted some sort of draft, which is NOT the action of someone who thinks they’ll be done fighting in a month or two.   As a nation we are weaker than we’ve been in a lifetime.  We’ve given away and expended an awful lot of ordinance that is not easily replaced, weakened our military and its leaders, and don’t have a President who can even put on his own coat, let alone lead in a global conflict.  Our populace is divided, our economy is foundering.   We are on the verge of open conflict within and without.

The elephants are dancing and this mouse is going to hide…  It could be a day or a month or a year away, but we’re on a path to serious disruption.   Not sure what form it will take, but it will be big.  Everything is building toward SOMETHING happening.   Don’t try to time it.

Stack more stuff, while you can.

nick

Thur. May 12, 2022 – change, flexibility, and decisiveness

Hot and humid, another sunny day.  It got pretty dang hot yesterday.  I was sweating and pretty dehydrated after working at my storage unit for over an hour.  I had some water with me this time, and that helped.

I took a pickup truck load to the auctioneer, and picked up a lot to flip to my “non-prepping hobby” guys ( I hope) on Saturday.  I will be picking up a few things for the BOL today, and heading up there Saturday afternoon.   I was just too tired and had too much to do here to head up yesterday.

—

The post title is about what we are facing and what I think you need to get through it, besides massive stacks of course.  There was a shortage of used vehicles, and I bought a truck.   There is a shortage of rural properties, and I bought a nice one.   There are ongoing shortages of food, cleaning supplies, parts, construction materials, and skilled labor.   I’ve had a chance to buy some, and am still waiting for that chance for others.

What let me get what I wanted was knowing what a good deal looked like, having the resources available to act immediately, acting immediately, and a willingness to compromise on what I was getting.

We’re still in a period where you can get what you want, maybe even precisely what you want IF you can search for it, and wait for it to become available.  And if you can afford it… but that is rapidly becoming less common, and NOT being able to just walk in and get what you want, right here and right now, is becoming the norm.

We have a culture of abundance.   We are entering a phase where some things, many things, are no longer abundant.  That is a pretty big change and one that some people are going to have a hard time accepting.   It’s going to be critical for your own success at seeing this through to the other side to recognize the change in our reality, and to develop new ways to deal with that fact.

It may mean carrying more inventory than you are used to, either at work or in your domestic arrangements.  A full and deep pantry is going to ease a lot of misery around shortages of foods.   Adequate spares for your critical systems need to be on hand, and not in someone else’s control.  You may need to plan ahead, order early, and you may need to pay immediately, rather than on the terms you are used to.  That means having access to more cash or bigger credit lines than you might have had last year.  And it means accepting less than you would really like, because that’s what IS available.

That last point is going to be really hard for some people.   The personality that likes to research thoroughly before a purchase, that likes to mull over a decision, is going to suffer if they don’t change.  Do the research, make the decision, but then act decisively when the opportunity presents itself.  Be open to alternatives.

And be open to alternative sources.   The secondary economy is booming.  Resellers are making hay.  Used, damaged, fixable, or cleanable may be your best choice.  Traditional retail and traditional supply lines will not be able to supply all your needs.  Start exploring your other options now, while there is still time to climb the learning curve.

Finally consider the changes in culture.  Respect for the law and for law enforcement is crumbling.   Violence is increasing and occurring in areas that were formerly safe. Some people LIKE chaos and strife, it breaks down social norms and increases their freedom to do what they like doing.   Some of them like hurting other people, taking their stuff, and destroying whatever strikes their fancy.  Some people will go along to get along.  It won’t matter to you if they guys running the roadblock are doing it for love or to feed their family, you lose either way.

It’s going to get tough, but we can get through this.

Stacks of stuff will help.

nick

Mon. Apr. 25, 2022 – birthday and anniversary this week

National forecast says we might be getting some rain today and tomorrow… which I’m hoping against.  I’ve got stuff to do that needs dry weather.   It was 76F and 91%RH when I went to bed.

I did some stuff Sunday.  Mostly fled the house and the squealing of tiny proto females.   Did two pickups, both mainly for my non-prepping hobby.   Did daddy daughter stuff, then wasted time on the internet with my friends. Oh, and during that time the dog ate an unknown quantity of Easter chocolate and caused some concern and an attempt at making him vomit it up.  The little poop factory eats aluminum soda cans, a teaspoon of hydrogen peroxide didn’t phase him.  He’s still alive so I guess he didn’t eat too much of the chocolate.

Today’s plan is to figure out what’s gone wrong with my pickup truck, get some bins of stuff ready for auction, and do a pickup or two of BOL stuff.  Rain complicates all of that tremendously so I’m hoping it misses us.

I’ve got so much going on this week, swim team practices start, D2 has a birthday, I have a wedding anniversary, and all the normal things too.  It’s crazy.

Some comments at the end of the day yesterday regarding supply chain, food, and corn.  If you haven’t caught up, take a minute and read them and consider how they’ll affect you if it happens that way.

Beyond local and national farm issues, the brutal lockdown in China is backing up shipping and supply chain like crazy.  The effects will start showing up in a couple of weeks and it will take months to un-flock this clustered mess.  Expect anything coming from or through China, and particularly Shanghai to be delayed or unavailable, possibly for months.

The situation is worsening folks, in just about any way you look at it.  I know, I know.   Sky is falling yet again.  Yep.  Look at the material and make your own conclusions.  If you decide it’s overblown, then at least you’ve considered it, and didn’t just keep running forward with your eyes closed.

If like me and others, you see all the signs pointing to things getting worse, not better, ACT on that.  Take actions that work for you and your family and for your financial situation.  I’m still in “don’t do anything irrevocable” mode, but we did turn a whole pile of cash into a whole pile of bricks and dirt because my wife agrees that inflation is eating our savings like a fat man at a buffet.

Interest rates are rising.  They’ve already risen.   If you are selling a house, do the deal.  If rates rise too much the housing bubble will pop again.  If you are buying a place to live, and it’s within your means, know that you might end up underwater on your loan for a while, and that might limit you for a few years or longer.  I wouldn’t be buying any place as an “investment” and I wouldn’t be entering into an adjustable rate mortgage at the moment either… nor would I ‘stretch’ to make a purchase that is outside what I can safely afford.  If I was renting, I’d be looking at long term leases to lock in monthly payments.  If I was the owner, I’d be looking at short term leases as much as possible.

Also consider what these changes and trends mean for fixed incomes and government assistance programs and the people dependent on them.   Food shortages almost always lead to riots.     In other words, I expect violence and lawlessness to increase.  It will be variable by area, but everyone will be affected.   And people will be fleeing to your safe semi-rural area when the cities get worse.  They’ve already started.

Time to really get busy getting ready.   Suck it up and stack it up.

n

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