SHELTER IN PLACE
I used to mock the whole concept,
even the very mention, of Sheltering In Place.
After all, being the official spokesperson of junk land real estate
incorporated, what could possibly be said of staying in your worthless abode to
justify such a poor decision? You had to
have and live on, or at least own within reasonable distance, poor boy
land. And of course I still think this
is the case. Alas, I can’t claim with
much conviction that this is realistic for most people. Not working is scary, and fear dictates you
stay with the devil you know. Says the
guy who stayed with the same douche canoe wife for a decade past the
relationship pull date, and is still using Windows computers.
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I preach my convictions, and my own
personal experiences being ravaged economically dictate that I can approve no
other lifestyle than living on junk land.
But I also have survived on not much past whole wheat for years at a
time, and I can get very few minions all that excited about stocking little
more than wheat kernels. Nor could I
convince all that many that the Lee-Enfield rifle was the best battle implement
ever devised. I mean, come on! Patton was a really humped in the head
dude. Reincarnation? We make fun of female movie stars who believe
in that crap, but don’t use it to discredit a Army general?
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The M1 Garand was a special kind of
rifle, granted ( I had no idea until now that the Garand was actually designed
to use the BAR magazine but the brass at the Ordinance Corps insisted on the 8
round clip so as to conserve ammunition, a stance they never abandoned since
the War Of Northern Aggression ). Yet
troops who had a choice seemed to prefer the Carbine, if not completely than on
a wide scale. So Patton might have been
a bit off when he claimed the Garand was All That And A Bag Of Chips. I contend that the Lee-Enfield was a much
better rifle by the time the no4 came along, but you all understand my bias. Nonetheless, I ranted and raved about the
perfection of the firearm for the survivalist and was soundly ignored.
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I could pretend that I was hurt, but
I take all the facts I have on hand and I stubbornly dig in my heels on an
issue once I make up my mind about something, and I need zero validation from
others by this point. But I’m not so
stubborn to realize nobody else is listening or heeding my advice polished to
perfection. I’m used to it. I know I always end up right eventually. The only rolling I’ll do in my grave is laughing
uproariously as all my naysayers are punished for their own stubbornness. But part of recognizing that my advice is
being foolishly ignored is to make suggestions so that your choices are less
sucky.
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Sheltering In Place is the lazy man’s
survival strategy, and yet I perfectly understand that unemployment is scary
crap. Voluntary unemployment is
exponentially worse. I didn’t pull the
plug on my regular day job for years after I didn’t need it, for the simple
fact that I couldn’t conceive of going without the security of a paycheck. Yes, I made it work. After I squirreled away so much cash savings
that the thought of losing it to inflation ate away a good chunk of my stomach
lining. The uncertainty of a paycheck
was worse than knowing how much purchasing power I was going to lose.
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So I understand perfectly well that
you cannot just say to your loyal loving minions, suck it up and move. It isn’t as easy as that. And yes, I understand working for a paycheck
is a suckers game. You save or earn your
employee dollars and receive pennies in return.
Except. Sometimes you earn your
boss pennies and earn dollars. No, in
the end it doesn’t perfectly even out, but I think at times it can be
close. During business downturns, you
can cost your employer money. The trade
off is you don’t get to earn as much of the profits in good times. Just because self employment works great for
most who try it doesn’t mean it is for everyone. Some folks prefer safe over potentially rich.
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So anxiety over a lack of paychecks
are a valid concern. You can’t just
dismiss that anxiety by claiming “but it’s good for you, if there is a collapse”. Because while there WILL be a collapse, and
all indicators point to soon, you still cannot guarantee it is going to happen
in your life. Because trying to time the
collapse is what snake oil salesmen do.
Which includes trying to convince you the collapse is guaranteed to NOT
happen until a certain time. If I tell
you we are already in Peak Oil, I have warned you to take extra heed that
problems are worse than you thought. If
I try to tell you that official government statistics and the mainstream media
have “proven” that it won’t happen until 2027, I have endangered you by trying
to convince you all is well and that you can relax.
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Looked at in that light, I think Doom
And Gloomers are far less evil than Optimistic Ollies. But people don’t listen to the boys crying
wolf, do they? Only if it profits them
to do so. That is just reality. If your current situation dictates you deny
danger, more often than not you do so.
It was profitable for me to panic and “know” I needed to move to junk
land because rent was taking three quarters of my take home pay ( and that was
after working overtime AND my writing income ) and was increasing ten percent a
year. If staying in the city is what you
need to do to keep working, you’ll naturally be inclined to “know” that you are
safe to do so, at least for now. This is NOT a judgment, but rather a observation
of human behavior. We continue tomorrow.
( .Y. )
( today's related link https://amzn.to/2DRvhST )
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