Yes, I’m rattling the asking bowl.
Below the veneer of normalcy, things are no longer working like they’re supposed to. Am I the just one who senses this? Much of you likewise sense that behind the screens of normalcy, once-reliable systems are unraveling. Things that were as soon as strong are melting into air, and this provides us with a novel obstacle. How do we respond to the unmooring without ending up being unmoored ourselves?
Consider inflation. Initially we’re informed the issue is we do not have sufficient inflation, then when it soars we’re informed it’s transitory, then we’re informed it’s hanging back to the magic 2%, then it remains stubbornly high and a cacophony of shrill voices states that either a deflationary collapse or hyper-inflation is around the corner.
In other words, nobody knows what the future holds. Where does that leave us? Searching for ways to understand the instability swirling around us.
Do I have all the answers? Never. But I do have a framework for understanding the next 20 years. This structure isn’t a magic ouija board that spits out recommendations for turning $100 into millions via trading zero-day expiration options (alas), however it does suggest paths to options and ways to invest our time, energy and capital that we control.
The important things that will reliably gain in worth are mainly overlooked in today state of mind: these consist of control of our lives and properties, real-world skills, authenticity and trustworthy networks of other efficient individuals. None of these can be bought off the shelf. These intangible possessions are limited and challenging to get, and so they will become more valuable. I summarize this in my book Self-Reliance in the 21st Century.
The tangible assets frequently touted as the “solution” are increasingly at risk of being taxed, expropriated, frozen or banned, for if history teaches us anything about ages of instability, it’s that the rules alter overnight. Whatever is predictable and secure until it isn’t. That’s one source of the sensation that whatever that was strong is merging thin air: the guidelines just changed, and we know they’ll continue to alter (normally to our downside) as the status quo tries to stay ahead of the fractures opening in the ground.
The key skill and possession in the next twenty years will be versatility, which is the distinction in between grounded optimism and empty optimism: Doom Porn and Empty Optimism.
Clinging to what is unsustainable will not work. What will work is the realistic optimism of adjustment. Adjusting to fast-changing conditions is never ever easy, however it’s a grand experience and the path of success.
In amount, I concentrate on what one reader described in this way: “cash richness and wealth are significantly different animals.” Indeed. Wealth is far more than money.
I have an interest in what’s progressively scarce and for that reason valuable, for instance commonalities. The variety of concerns that divide us is broadening like a supernova as polarization disintegrates what couple of islands of common ground still exist. I’m interested in maintaining the staying islands of common ground and establishing a few brand-new ones.
The global economy is transitioning to degrowth, and this opens a path to a far more sustainable, human-scale lifestyle that is antifragile instead of unsteady and precarious. Sure, we can hold on to waste is growth, but why self-destruct when a brighter future beckons?
I can’t assist economizing (see photo listed below) in both the concrete world and the world of concepts, where I try to recognize the core dynamics in play, for instance, What Happens When Intricacy Unravels? (Might 6, 2022) and Signing in On 5 Long-Term Cycles.
I don’t expect you to concur with whatever I post, or concur with any of it– that’s not my goal. I don’t see material as an appeal contest, I see it as a chance to add to our understanding of how best to react to our shared and individual challenges. A mix of varying propositions and critiques is vital to the process of adjusting and moving forward. You and I become part of that process.
What I give the table is a lively interest in both real-world skills (see picture below of a preferred tool for the previous 50 years, a worm-drive Skilsaw) and an interest about systems, enterprises, evolutionary characteristics and economic/ social transformations. Solutions can be systemic or specific. I have an interest in both, and the two come together in my books on burnout, national renewal and self-reliance.
Yes, I have actually been shadow-banned by various entities, however so far I’ve prevented being renditioned to a rat-infested cellblock in the ‘Stans, so life here on the margins is dynamic though not exactly rewarding.
Sadly, I’m never going to mint a million on TikTok or YouTube. I fear my images of garden veggies are not going to mint me a million on OnlyFans, either. I confess this is a pure-writing website, leavened with charts from the Federal Reserve. (No wonder I’m shadow-banned, best?)
I tend to keep expectations low, as my experience tracks Churchill’s meaning of success: going from failure to failure without loss of interest.
Which brings us back to inflation. In 2015 I rattled the pleading bowl and asked 10 of you 10s of countless readers to pony up $1 a month for the crazy-valuable (or just plain crazy) content here.
This year, I’m requesting (gasp) 15 of you to pony up $1 for the crazy-valuable (or just plain insane) material here. Unfortunately, inflation.
So here’s my question to you: are you one of the few, the daring, the foolhardy, the insanely generous readers going to pony up a dollar a month to extend life-sustaining motivation to the one-person material factory here at Of Two Minds?
Those ponying up a Lincoln ($5) every month get the weekly Musings Reports, an unbelievable deal given what you get. The objective here at Of 2 Minds is to not simply scrape through crises but emerge with higher skills, adaptability, health and real wealth– the kind that can’t be frozen or expropriated since it’s social and experiential capital. (A cushion of a few extra tools and quatloos is likewise a goal, as they might come in helpful.)
If you are among those unusual and precious souls, please accept my sincere thankfulness:
Yes, I’m rattling the pleading bowl. Cents and quatloos are gratefully accepted.
I’m asking you to think about becoming a patron or contributor. If you need a doorstop, paperweight or sleep-aid, purchase one of my books. Heck, buy one as a doorstop and another as a paperweight; they work splendidly in these practical functions.
End up being a customer of my work through patreon.com
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New Podcast: Turmoil Ahead As We Enter The New Era Of’Shortage’ (53 min ) My new book is now available at a 10 % discount rate($8.95 ebook,$ 18 print): Self-Reliance in the 21st Century. Read the very first chapterfree of charge(PDF)Check out excerpts of all three chapters Podcast with Richard Bonugli: Self Reliance in the 21st Century (43 min)My
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