Is This It - Part II?

Not long ago we ran a post asking if we might be seeing the start of events big enough to impact the stability of our present system and then lead to major systemic changes. Now we can say that the events taking place are most certainly significant enough to have the potential to shake the stability of our present system. 

You don't need me to inform you of that since it is now on mainstream media every day now. Below I will attempt to offer some observations as to how to try and deal with what are now clearly historic events. I will again use a Q&A format.

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Q: Is this a legitimate non man made crisis or is it something that has been engineered to shake the foundations of our present system and lead us into major changes over the coming months?

A: This is a question I am getting and seeing discussed a lot now of course. I wish I could provide a highly credible and informed answer. I have gotten some input from a variety of experts and also read a variety of viewpoints everywhere I can in order to try and assess this. The honest answer for now is I just do not know if this is an engineered event or simply an act of nature that no one could see coming. Some believe this is exactly what is being presented to the public, a non man made legitimate public health crisis that requires all the drastic measures being taken to combat the disease. Others are skeptical. 

Most everyone accepts that the virus is real, is very contagious, and poses a severe health threat to the segments of the population most vulnerable due to weaker immune systems. The skepticism tends to surround whether this virus was a natural event or something man made to produce the global reaction we are seeing right now and to get the public into a mind set for accepting "a new normal" and major changes from the world we have known. There are a variety of culprits pointed to by those who are skeptical, but I prefer not to delve into that since I have no credible evidence to support any particular entity as being behind this as an engineered event. I do keep an open mind and will simply monitor how all this unfolds and what the end results are. I think that will provide a better guide as to how and why all this has emerged literally out of nowhere in just a few months time.

Q: What valid observations can we make about the public reaction to all this so far? 

A: I think the following bullet point observations are valid in regards to public reaction to his situation thus far.

- there is a very clear "fear" reaction going on with people who were living normal lives just a few days ago now terrified as to what their future may be - both from a health standpoint and from a personal financial standpoint.

- the elevation of this crisis to "war time status" as many leaders are now calling it is impacting the public such that people who would have challenged the government restricting their freedom of movement, freedom of assembly, etc. are now quietly accepting such restrictions with no signs of significant protest. This may be just  a sense of people wanting to do their share to pitch in and try to help contain the virus. But an interesting question is how long will this public reaction last if this situation drags on for months? Only time will answer that for us.

-suddenly almost no one cares how much it costs to try and combat this problem. People who would normally be upset about spending trillions of dollars, expanding government debt, and creating whatever money is needed for monetization are OK with that now. It would be political suicide to vote any other way in the current environment.

- so far the majority of the public reaction has been to promote a rare sense of unity of purpose (at least for this crisis) between groups that have been fighting each other like cats and dogs. Again, it will be interesting to see how long that lasts. For now, most people are accepting that their leaders are working on their behalf to combat the crisis and there is much more bi partisan political atmosphere than we have seen for some time.

- it's been interesting to see what items people are "panic buying" in response to this situation. It's not surprising to see things like milk, eggs, canned goods, paper products, and deep cleaning products disappear. What has surprised me a bit is how things like batteries and drinking water quickly disappeared and how fresh meats and produce have been relatively available. Nothing about this situation in our area has suggested that our utilities (water, electricity, etc) will be impacted and yet people bought lots of items that you would buy if you thought those things were going to be impacted. I am not sure what that suggests, but perhaps that deep down people are not confident this will be over quickly or that the damage to the system will be confined just to their health or short term financial problems. Maybe it's just wanting to err on the side of caution.

Q: A year from now, will our system and the world be changed in a major way?

A: This is a key question for sure. It's still too early to say from my point of view. The political leaders in the US are saying to expect this to last anywhere from a few more weeks to a few more months. They are saying that once the crisis is over, things will quickly return to "normal". I would assume normal means that long term we have not seen major changes to either our system or our way of life. 

But only time will truly answer this question. Leaders have to say that and would be viewed as creating panic in the public if they don't say that. In 3-4 months, we will probably have a better idea how to answer this question. By then, either things will be returning back to "normal" or it will be obvious the financial system is failing or will likely fail soon. The only advice we can offer here is what we have said here for years now. Try to stay informed, try to find credible information, and try to have a backup plan in mind in case the system fails. It may be that obtaining credible information is the most important thing you can do. It's certainly our most important objective here.

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Added note: If we come across credible information we feel may be helpful on either the healthcare front or the economic front, we will share it here. We will tend to be very slow to post anything here, especially on the healthcare front, unless we feel the information source is highly credible and we can verify the information presented to us. 

There is an enormous amount of misinformation and disinformation out there and we have no desire to contribute to that here. Obviously, political operatives on both sides will be trying to use this situation to gain political advantage so we have that to try and sort through as well. But I think that kind of behavior is actually pretty transparent and easy for most people to see through.