Is it may imagination that a lot of the "waiting for the gloom-and-doom" blog writers seeming to be doing relatively poor economically?. I am curies if their is a casual linkage (in either direction) or just a reflection of general demographics. After all with a 20+% under-employment rate, there are bound to be a few in the crowd.Russell posited this question in a recent post and I thought about it for long enough that I thought it would be worth a response.
My guess is that there is a slight causal linkage. Those who are wildly successful within a system are probably the least likely to reject the system. And "gloom-and-doom" blog writers generally not show a great attachment to the current situation.
A 20+ percent unemployment is enough to send most folks into the worry-wart mode. Even if you are employed, you are worried about your job. I hate to refer to the MSM for anything, and you can take this with a large grain of salt, but CBS News shows that more than 50% of folks are worried about losing jobs. That is my personal experience as well. Lots of folks are worried.
The only folks who I know who seem to be content with the current situation are my wealthier friends. Lawyers and developers and FIRE types. They seem to be doing well by things.
On the other side of the slate, I can't really think of anyone outside this arena who feels comfy. The local government employees see the train a comin'. My friend the cop is trying to get an early out and go to work part-time for the Fed, Schoolteachers are getting nervous with rejected bonds. City Government is being cut by 14%. My buddy just got laid off from his welding job. My old co-workers just ran out of their 99th week.
I would posit that most gloom and doomers have a similar experience. Doing well in todays world is a precarious thing. If you think that you have it made, I would posit that it is an outcome of your profession and personal outlook. The bankers, government types, insurance, lawyers and such have the system sewn up currently, and are pretty certain that they can ride the horse til' it drops.
The rest of us are seeing a world changing faster than we can comfortably adapt. We ignored it for a while, as long as the cheap shit from China was coming in and folks were handing out money in exchange for our signatures on a piece of paper. But those times are gone, and now we are getting down to the brass tacks of figuring out which way the world is heading. We do this so that we won't get squashed in it's passage.
2 comments:
Another possibility I thought of.
On a board that is postulating some form of coming EOTWAWKI, to describe you current travails is possibly more acceptable than on many other types of blogs.
After all, who is going to take financial advice from someone living in a trailer in the Ozarks: even if the person in the Ozarks has zero debt, and more actual net wealth.
But I do think there is some causal connection. There is an obvious disaffection with the current social structure within the community. Obviously in some cases this going to lead to a path the foregos success within that same social structure.
Of course blindly going along and doing what your parents did, has not worked very well for a lot of people either. It is a matter of percentages, not absolutes.
" We do this so that we won't get squashed in it's passage."
Yup. Those of us on the lower rungs don't have much wiggle room, so if we're smart, we pay close attention to what's going on, and prepare for the "big hiccup" as best we can. Folks with bucks don't have to worry so much (though I say they should, because their bucks are worth bupkis in a collapse).
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