Plan For Out-Of-Nowhere Events

Especially When Their Probability of Happening Is High

Busy day, up early listening and watching everything I could get my head around; Iran was making waves in the Gulf of Oman and the Persian Gulf. Neither strait, Hormuz or Bab-el-Mandeb are exactly the picture perfect vacation spots where Airbnb or Vrbo have a “waiting list”. They’re both critical with respect to shipping oil and other cargo related products. They both have attracted a great deal of “interest” lately but it seems that’s happening for all the wrong reasons.

These Are The Times That Try Men’s Souls

Thomas Paine’s “Common Sense” proudly celebrated the 248th anniversary of it’s first edition printing yesterday. Paine had a way with words and he knew how to use them without first plagiarizing someone else’s thoughts. He wrote that “these are the times that try men’s souls” on December 23, 1776. “Tyranny like hell is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph.” We don’t produce statesmen like Thomas Paine anymore and it shows.

My grandparents did not arrive in the United States until the early 1900s. Collectively their parents all served Nicholas II, the last Tsar of Russia. My great grandfather used to talk about the day my grandfather’s family on my mother’s side was told “get out”. I am happy they listened. My father was the first in the family to graduate from college. A veteran, he proudly displayed the “Stars & Stripes” and made sure I understood why. This is the greatest country to ever exist on the face of this globe. He knew it and I do too. My fear is that too many others think otherwise.

What The Hell Happened

My family hit the shores of the United States about 120 years ago. Like their comrades from the Ukraine they did what they knew how to do best; they worked, they worked very hard. If they saw what’s happened to our country, “their country” they would be embarrassed. I’m embarrassed. How about you?

I’m 68 years old. I’m in a giving back mode as it relates to the securities industry, one my Dad instilled in me; one I love. Dad loved the United States of America as well. He often spoke of how things had changed in his lifetime but he never experienced what we are witnessing today. Politically, if I were to take my thoughts further many of you would discontinue reading this article. Suffice to say, the true direction this country’s heading isn’t exactly what I’d like to see. Again, how about you? Come on now, you do have an opinion, right?

I cannot believe the actual state of our union today. It’s a battle between two political parties for certain but there’s more. In my opinion it’s a tragic battle for the “soul” of our nation. Would George Washington have waited on the battlefield sidelines while unprovoked attacks, aimed at our collective military bases, were commenced? I don’t think so. Why have we? Why has it taken so long for our “current administration”, or any administration for that matter, to stand up for what we stand for? Maybe we’ve changed; maybe our values have changed; maybe we’re a different people than those who drafted the Constitution and gave birth to our country.

I don’t think so. For me, like John Paul Jones recited, “I have not yet begun to fight” and fight I will. It’s beyond my belief that in essence, since World War II this country has never won a war it has fought. For me, it started with the Viet Nam war. For my Dad it was Korea but that is when it all started. I am opposed to war but when I look at the current indecision, exactly how we’ve treated this great land, we’ve turned the United States of America into the United States of absolute “confusion”. I realize it’s time to stand up and fight for what I believe in. I ask again, how about you.

That’s it folks. I anyone wonders why I think we’re headed for the “abyss” this article should explain to you why I believe as I do. Other than gold and oil heading higher it seems that the rest of the futures I follow simply do not care. Like everything I’ve seen in my short lifetime, an expectation that “this too shall pass” prevails. Not for me this time. I’m not afraid to stand up and be counted. How about you?

Sing it loud and sing it proud. The “Star Spangled Banner” as written by Francis Scott Key has been the subject of far too much “negativity during my lifetime”. If there was ever a time to let the world know what we stand for, that time is now. It represents the people who call themselves “Americans”. It represents freedom, to many it represents success, to the world it used to represent strength. It’s time to renew that belief. Long may it wave.