I have been pruning my reading list lately. For a while there, I was reading two or three digests a day, a couple of web sites, the Oil Drum, Mish Mike Ruppert, you know the entire gloom and doom, the world is shit subculture.
I have been purging sites off my need-to-read list to accommodate this notable lack of desire on whinging and sports level deconstruction of the current rough patch and its possible (please note here the word possible, as the gloom and doom crowd only deal in certainties) long term effects.
So I am reading more books now, I am not prepping like mad waiting for the apocalypse. I keep my pantry stocked sensibly and I am ruthlessly paring my costs and watching my nickels. I have come to the conclusion that the most sensible way to approach problems like the ones we are facing is to keep things in perspective, lower my expectations along with my needs and living arrangements and figure out how to ride along in the flow.
How much of your time is spent waiting breathlessly for the next downleg in the market to be the one that brings down the whole house of cards? How many precious minutes of your life do you spend reading Stoneleigh and Max Keiser screaming about the abuse of the banks and how they are getting your share? What is needful isn't rightful indignation about someone else's store of digital bits that can never be spent. The "wealth" being accrued to the elites will vanish, like the supposed wealth we think of as ours.
We have succumbed to the idea that our opinion and lifestyles are actually important. The Martha Stewart lifestyles that we have become so attached to have always been a chimera, a sad posturing in search of status and self-worth. We have to instead figure out where we need to end up in a world going into decline.
2 comments:
In principle, I agree. But in practice, I think those of us for whom reading comprehension is not a monumental challenge should "head them off at the pass" as it were. There are no unicorns and rainbows ahead, and the longer we sit on our haunches singing "Don't Worry, Be Happy", the worse things will get for us.
The Ponzi scheme is in full collapse, but the PTB are whistling past the graveyard while the lamestream media paints rosy pictures of "recovery" even as we slide into the Greater Depression. The only reason we don't see bread lines and soup kitchens now is because borrowed money has kept the welfare cards loaded. So far...
There is light on the "other side", but many people will suffer unfortunate ends for their lack of foresight. It's happening now, and will only get worse before it gets better. It's not "doom and gloom" cheerleading, but simply rational analysis of the available facts, mixed with some local observation.
When I was actively buying puts on the home builders and banks I read the market stuff much more closely. A lot of people saw the crash coming. When housing peaked in the summer of 2005 I knew the gig was up. But it was interesting how long it took to unwind. Housing is still unwinding.
I usually just glance at the economics now. Sometimes when they actually address issues of resource scarcity it is interesting: particularly if they have some ideas as to how to get around it.
But I like to read. I particularly like blogs that post links to interesting articles. That is (obviously given my hat tips) where I get many of my posting ideas. I try and ignore too much of the scary day-to-day stuff: but will confess a weakness for South of the Border sensations-particularity they involve monster trucks.
I have been reading a lot of books. Book reviews are some of my favorite posts to write, but get the least amount of hits from readers: interesting. Since I have tended to build up posts over time, I have been saving up some book reports so I can do them over a weeks period. I think I have five when I finish the last chapters on the book I am reading, but I may skim-reread some that I have already read to bulk up the number.
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