Hey, @galenkp.
I don't have guns, so ammo or gun availability isn't something I have my ear to the ground on as readily as other things. I do have a text into a friend, @bbrewer, to see what he says.
Okay, he just confirmed it. Been going on for months, he says, the worst it's been. Which I remember it wasn't good for quite a bit of the Obama administration for one reason or another.
The pandemic has hit quite a few industries, some of which don't seem to be even that connected, like toilet paper, but people don't really need much to get going any more. There's been enough going on that FOMO and FUD is almost a way of life.
That said, I think this new round of stockpiling is the culmination of things. We just had an election where one party more or less controls the executive and legislative branches, and could by adding a couple of seats, swing the Supreme Court, too. That makes people really nervous because it's generally held that when liberals are in power, the guns are on the chopping block. They have to get through the second amendment to do it, though, but that doesn't mean they can't try to find other ways, through regulations or using a mass shooting incident.
The riots that took place last year—I'm talking about the ones where businesses got burned and private citizens were affected for months—certainly didn't help. Something else is on the horizon, though, and I think it's going to cause the most pain of all.
I don't know if you've heard of Harry Dent, but he's been trying to get people's attention now for years that a financial crisis the likes of which we've never seen is going to happen, and soon. He was predicting it to occur somewhere between 2017 and mid-2020. While some stuff did, not on the scale he's talking about. Basically, we'll look back on the Great Depression as good times.
All financial sectors will be hit. Even crypto (or at least BitCoin), and some won't recover. Meaning, the highs they've hit now won't be seen again for at least a generation, if then. Housing or real estate is the primary target. Bitcoin and crypto will come back, he says, but it will be a painful couple of years once this hits.
If/when all of that happens (I don't know when, but there's only so much quantitative easing central banks can do until it all flushes), it will be staggering. Dent is now predicting it will happen by April. Markets won't crash all at once, but once they get rolling, it will keep going well into 2023 (if it happens that quickly).
So, all of or any one of those things could be at play. Something is coming. It's just not, in my mind, civil war. At least not as a consequence of the so-called far right seizing the government. It might come after weeks/months of food, fuel, and energy shortages, though.
The question, as always is, when? And then, what to do about it, when virtually nothing is safe. Dent's saying hold 30 year Treasury bonds for two years. But he's also saying the dollar won't be around in 30 years, at least not as we know it now, so as I said, a lot could be happening in a relatively short period of time. Or not.
A bleak perspective Glen, but one I concur with. I started saying financial-apocalypse three years ago and whilst it hasn't been an instantaneous thing the signs are there...It's lie you say with the markets...One, then another and another...Gains momentum and then a freefall occurs. The same will happen in society Glen. In my opinion.
I remember @bbrewer, a bit of an outdoorsman if I recall, hunter, fisherman...Seems a legit dude and I'm not surprised he confirmed the shortages. It's a gun-control measure to some degree, the lack of supply, and also I guess I can't blame people for giving in to their FOMO.
Yes, a bleak picture and one I'm preparing around, attempting to mitigate (as much as possible) and working around. I htink it's just smart right?
Thanks for your excellent comment mate, as always.
!ENGAGE 25
Hey @galenkp and @glenalbrethsen! It's good to see you keep on keeping on. Take care in these troubled times my friends.
You too mate, interesting and troubling times, and a good set of circumstances in which to be a little more vigilant.
ENGAGEtokens.