{"id":1299731,"date":"2023-05-27T09:10:32","date_gmt":"2023-05-27T13:10:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/how-to-face-risk-in-an-uncertain-world\/1299731\/"},"modified":"2023-05-27T09:10:32","modified_gmt":"2023-05-27T13:10:32","slug":"how-to-face-risk-in-an-uncertain-world","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/how-to-face-risk-in-an-uncertain-world\/1299731\/","title":{"rendered":"How To Face Risk In An Uncertain World"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a><\/div>\n

How To Face Risk In An Uncertain World<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

Authored by MN Gordon via EconomicPrism.com,<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

Managing risk.\u00a0 Mitigating uncertainty.\u00a0 Is attempting to crack this unsolvable puzzle all just a waste of time and energy?<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

The Popocat\u00e9petl volcano erupted last week.\u00a0 It was an impressive\u00a0sight<\/a>. \u00a0Smoke and ash, in addition to 1,500-foot-high lava fountains, spewed from the volcano\u2019s conical, crater top.<\/p>\n

El Popo<\/em>, as the locals call it, is about 45 miles southeast of Mexico City.\u00a0 Roughly 25 million people live within a 60-mile radius.<\/p>\n

The eruption prompted the Mexican government to raise the warning level to \u201cyellow phase three.\u201d \u00a0This means residents should be prepared to evacuate.<\/p>\n

With a little luck, the volcanic activity will subside \u2013\u00a0for now<\/em>.\u00a0 In reality, there\u2019s no good way to evacuate 25 million people from a single area.<\/p>\n

For example, when panicked residents attempted to flee Los Angeles during the 1992 riots the highways quickly grinded to a halt.\u00a0 Enterprising vendors traversed the immobile onramps on foot, selling bottled water and canned soda pop at a hefty premium.<\/p>\n

Thirsty evacuees had little choice.\u00a0 They were trapped.\u00a0 They had to pay up. \u00a0There was no way out of the LA Basin.<\/p>\n

About 15 years ago we rode a bus from Mexico City to the municipality of Amecameca to visit our wife\u2019s aunt and uncle.\u00a0 Amecameca is about 15-miles from\u00a0El Popo<\/em>.\u00a0 The views are extraordinary.<\/p>\n

The volcano\u2019s peak is about 17,800 feet above sea level.\u00a0 By comparison, the highest peak in the contiguous U.S. is Mount Whitney, in the Sierra Nevada Mountains, which is about 14,500 feet.\u00a0 The highest peak in the Smoky Mountains, Clingmans Dome, stands at a humble 6,643 feet.<\/p>\n

El Popo<\/em>\u00a0is, in a word, colossal.<\/p>\n

Acceptance<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The name Popocat\u00e9petl comes from two Nahuatl Aztec words.\u00a0 They generally translate to \u2018smoking mountain.\u2019<\/p>\n

From a third story rooftop patio, many years ago, we gazed at the towering steep slopes and ultimate summit.\u00a0 We pondered what seemed a likely and looming catastrophe.<\/p>\n

Yet\u00a0T\u00edo Miguel<\/em>\u00a0showed little concern of the potential for fiery lava to rain down from the sky.\u00a0 Like residents of Portland, Oregon, with Mount Saint Helens in the distance,\u00a0El Popo<\/em>\u00a0is warmly admired for the unique topographic relief it offers.<\/p>\n

Perhaps it\u2019s better to accept the dangers of life when there\u2019s nothing you can do to prevent them \u2013 if and when they happen.\u00a0 In the case of\u00a0El Popo<\/em>, you could always move away.\u00a0 However, you would soon discover a different host of dangers.<\/p>\n

Then what?\u00a0 Do you move again\u2026and encounter some other uncertain danger?<\/p>\n

Still, there are times when it\u2019s wise to take a clue from the gods and get out of Dodge.<\/p>\n

On the morning of August 24, 79 AD, residents of Pompeii, a Roman trading town, woke up with hardly a worry in the world.\u00a0 Why wouldn\u2019t they?<\/p>\n

Pompeii had experienced nearly 700 years of uninterrupted advancement.\u00a0 Residents lived in large homes with elegant courtyard gardens and all the modern conveniences.<\/p>\n

Rooms were heated by hot air flowing through cavity walls and spaces under the floors.\u00a0 Running water was provided to the city from a great reservoir and conveyed through underground pipelines to houses and public buildings.<\/p>\n

Fresh fish from the Bay of Naples were readily available in the Macellum (food market) and countless cauponae (small restaurants).\u00a0 Entertainment was on hand at the large amphitheatre.<\/p>\n

Life was agreeable, pleasant, and idyllic for all \u2013 and it was only getting better.<\/p>\n

Against the Gods<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Yet, just when things couldn\u2019t have seemed more certain for Pompeii, Mount Vesuvius blew.\u00a0 A cloud of gas and ash spewed down, instantly killing its inhabitants and burying the city under 60 feet of ash and pumice.<\/p>\n

Nineteen hours later, where there had been life and a thriving civilization, there was silence for the next 1,669 years.<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cYou could hear women lamenting, children crying, men shouting,\u201d<\/em>\u00a0was the account by Pliny the Younger, 61 AD \u2013 112 AD. \u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThere were some so afraid of death that they prayed for death.\u00a0 Many raised their hands to the gods, and even more believed that there were no gods any longer and that this was one unending night for the world.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Hindsight is always 20\/20.\u00a0 In the case of Pompeii, the warning signs were evident to those who bothered to heed them.<\/p>\n

Seventeen years before Mount Vesuvius erupted there was a massive earthquake that damaged many of the structures within the city.\u00a0 Then, leading up to 79 AD, frequent, but smaller quakes occurred.\u00a0 Soon no one seemed to pay them any concern.<\/p>\n

In the end, the gods had their say.\u00a0 One day after the Vulcanalia \u2013 the festival of the Roman god of fire \u2013 Mount Vesuvius erupted.<\/p>\n

Today in America, as in most developed economies, another Vesuvius of sorts is releasing warning ash into the atmosphere.\u00a0 But most of its caution goes unheeded.<\/p>\n

Investors, with both eyes firmly fixed on interest rates and the major stock market indexes, are blinded by the politics of the moment.\u00a0 Partisan squabbles over a ridiculous statutory debt limit.<\/p>\n

At the same time, all the cool and hip investors are keen for a debt limit deal so they can get on with bidding up another bubble in technology stocks \u2013 filled with the hot air of AI.<\/p>\n

Are they missing something?<\/p>\n

How to Face Risk in an Uncertain World<\/strong><\/h2>\n

From our perspective, the debt limit and a burgeoning AI boom are mere distractions.\u00a0 Decades of bad decisions have stacked up in ways that make a pain-free reckoning impossible.<\/strong><\/p>\n

With a little study and contemplation one can see the facets leading to a mega economic collapse, financial crash, and complete societal breakdown coming into alignment.<\/p>\n

Many American cities are already unlivable hellholes.\u00a0 Homeless drug addicts are ubiquitous, flapping their arms and flailing about on the asphalt.\u00a0 Youth flash mobs load up on five finger discounts with little consequences.<\/p>\n

What chaos will there be when prices double and the unemployment rate tops 15 percent?<\/p>\n

Still, what can you really do about it?<\/strong><\/p>\n

You can tie yourself into knots trying to manage your risk.\u00a0 You can buy put options.\u00a0 Regardless, there\u2019s always uncertainty you cannot account for.\u00a0 So, why not keep things simple?<\/p>\n

Perhaps an equal mix of gold, cash, shares of good businesses, and property will do the trick.\u00a0 Maybe, for kicks, set aside a few bucks to speculate on the elegant mirage of AI.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Then, with some spiritual guidance, you can get on with enjoying the good things in life.<\/p>\n

Ultimately, you never know how it will all turn out.\u00a0 Sometimes winning is losing and losing is winning.<\/p>\n

Consider Thomas Douglas Allsup.\u00a0 He passed away on January 11, 2017.\u00a0 But, if he hadn\u2019t lost a coin toss, he would have perished on February 3, 1959 \u2013 the day the music died.<\/p>\n

Instead, Ritchie Valens won the coin toss for the remaining seat on the fateful flight.\u00a0 Legend has it, he remarked,\u00a0\u201cThat\u2019s the first time I\u2019ve ever won anything in my life.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Soon after, the airplane Valens, Buddy Holly and The Big Bopper were flying in fell from the sky and crashed.\u00a0 They all died.\u00a0 Portfolio diversification couldn\u2019t save them.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s the point?<\/p>\n

The world is full of uncertainty and there\u2019s nothing you can do to stop whatever it is that\u2019s going to happen.\u00a0 So, to face risk in an uncertain world, make the best preparation you can, with the means available to you.<\/strong><\/p>\n

After that, enjoy the time you have and the people you have to spend it with.<\/p>\n

As Lord William Rees-Mogg once remarked,\u00a0\u201ceven our happiest moments are picnics on the slopes of Vesuvius.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

*\u00a0 *\u00a0 *<\/em><\/p>\n

Like this article?\u00a0 If so, please\u00a0Subscribe to the Economic Prism<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Tyler Durden<\/a><\/span>
\nSat, 05\/27\/2023 – 12:30<\/span><\/p>\n

From:Zerohedge<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

How To Face Risk In An Uncertain World Authored by MN Gordon via EconomicPrism.com, Managing risk.\u00a0 Mitigating uncertainty.\u00a0 Is attempting to crack this unsolvable puzzle…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1299731","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","wpcat-1-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1299731","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1299731"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1299731\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1299731"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1299731"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1299731"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}