Solutions
 

Every once in awhile some silly twit will tell me, "Oh Tabs you are always so full of doom and gloom but you never ever present any solutions?" I nod my head politely and think back to that starry North Atlantic night in April 1912 when that ship hit the berg.

After the ship hit the berg the builder of the ship Thomas Andrews went below to assess the damage. Coming back a few minutes later he told Captain Smith that the ship was going to sink in an hour and forty five minutes as the damage was too great. At that time the President of the White Star Lines Bruce Ismay came up to Captain Smith and asked him, "What solutions did he have to save the ship." Captain Smith looked at him dumbfounded and said, "You stupid fk the ship is going to sink, THERE ARE NO SOLUTIONS!" Bruce Ismay with disbelief at what he had just heard said, "But, but surely there is something that you can do to save the ship?" Captain Smith looked at him squarely in the eyes and said, "Learn how to swim."

The only thing that could be done was to turn on the pumps full blast and pray to God that a miracle would happen, that a ship would sail over the horizon to pick them up before their feet got wet. But as we know no miracle happened and some 1500 people died that night..

I've always appreciated the "solutions-oriented" approach.

People all to much get caught up in emotion.

Nothing wrong with having empathy or sympathy or ---

But when the ship is going down - let's get a plan together to save as many as possible.

Captain Smith was in shock as he knew there weren't enough life boats for everybody...the reality of it was too much for him to cope with so like a deer in the headlights he froze..

As for the passengers, most of them didn't believe the "UNSINKABLE SHIP" could sink so they stood around while the life boats pulled away half empty....

As the ship began to noticeably go down by the head the passengers became increasingly frantic...looting and burning, becoming WOKE, killing each other storming the capital, spending wt reckless abandon, shouting each other down and other assorted mischief...

As the ship slipped beneath the waves there was final fearfull shriek and then all the voices of people in the water pleading to be saved which within a few minutes became dead quiet..

You may have a solution to a mathematical problem. You may have a solution of water and a soluable salt. In life there are very few solutions. You can only make your decisions and act. Very few people posess the ability to see every aspe ct of a problem and act so that all challenges are met. Most actions simple create more things to be addressed.

Gotta keep busy, don't you know! ;)

Best
Les

President Bruce Ismay of the White Star Line did act he got aboard a half empty life boat and was saved...for the rest of his life he had to live down that he lived while so many of his passengers died. For the rest of his life out of shame he mostly lived in seclusion.

Then there was the Steward who knew the ship was going down, went to his room and drank a bottle of Scotch that he was saving...thinking this would be the end...When the ship did go down he found himself in the icy water and was able to get on the over turned collapsible life boat and was saved. The alcohol in his blood had acted as an antifreeze...

At times, I have told people....people whom I care for and love deeply....to flat out "Shut up!" while working to resolve an issue for them.

Busy fixing the problem and I don't want to hear it. Go into the other room and I will come get you when it's fixed.

5 stages of grief.

denial
anger
bargaining
depression
acceptance

I'm in acceptance phase. When the #$% hits the fan, I will genuinely be happy for you. If an asteroid demolishes earth tomorrow, I will still chuckle about how you were on the wrong train but the right track, right before I'm burnt to a cinder.

Since the title is 'solutions'- give us some! I'm all ears.

Learn how to swim.

Can I etherium my way out of this?

No...

How long has crypto been around? Can you touch it, hold it, put it in your pocket? Gold and Silver has been universally used as money for 5000 years.. It is a matter of trust...

Dimon says Bit Coin is worthless...lets see you pound out Crypto and make something else out of it? Crypto is an abstraction like a Fiat currency that has no intrinsic value.. You have to trust that it has value..and in this era of distrust..heading into chaos..good luck when systems devolve.

When the ship is going down you don't give a fk about anything but saving your own life...You will leave everything behind to save your life...

This is not about saving anything or getting ahead...this is about survival..

Stocks, Bonds, Cash, Bitcoin will all turn to ashes...RE is just a roof over your head...You will be concerned about your next meal..

Take a look at the Great Depression...in that time of great distress the USD remained sound...the US govt was financially solvent...This time the USD has been gutted and the US govt is insolvent..deep in debt...The foundation upon which the econ, society and govt is built upon is gone...now tell me how stable you think those systems will be under those circumstances and then add in that the entire world is suffering from the same malaise.

Now do ya know why my thinking is so doom and gloom.

You talkin bout cryto, or the current best steed in the glue factory?
My back 40 is paid off with a water supply.
You're in vegas? right ?

I can swim.... but jack......(Celine Dione music plays) the water is sooooooo cold...................

I want to do better. (please help)

You don't even know what it is going to take to swim yet? Nobody does? It is imponderable..so many variables..

You can see the broad brush strokes of where you are going but the details only become visible when you come upon them.

"Doing better" implies that you have something extra to deploy. The whole notion of what doing better implies might change...you maybe operating under yesterdays notions of what that means.

I think the highway to the future lies in "you will have nothing and be happy" in a perverse sorta way that the WOKE group doesn't anticipate...the pursuit of materialism as a measure of success is going to go away..environmentally it is detrimental to the planet..no matter how you slice it, today's youngins eschew material success partially as they see it as unobtainable and that it does not bring happiness or satisfaction. Better to find other ways of being happy that begin within yourself...

Jung surmised that the coming epoch will be about restoring and balancing Secular Rationalism including materialism and the spiritual dimensions of man...I do not disagree..in the final analysis that is an extremely positive outlook..The tough part is the turmoil of resolving those issues...which involves the pain of a descent into he11..ya gotta learn your lessons somehow..

So what's the problem?

Tabs- Do you have a "camp?" Not judging. Asking.

I look at doing better as just that. Preparing. An extra buffer. But as you say, you cant ponder the imponderables.

If you have solutions, bring em'.

The title.of the thread is Solutions but the takeaway is - there are no solutions?

That is a fair assessment. You cannot "solve" the problems. You can only make decisions and take actions (or not) as you see fit in order to deal with the challenges you face.
The real kicker is, most of those challenges are pretty obscure. How does one plan for the unforseen?
Are the survivalists right? Personally, I see the strength in communities. How far can you walk to work?
For the greatest part, I see the pendulum swinging the other way on the "global economy ". That was never sustainable and only served to make more money for one group. Ditto for the "consumers economy ". We spend a lot to buy crap we don't really need. Just gratification.
There ain't no such thing as a free lunch.

Best
Les

take a page out of the bible and build an ark, there is still time

aka

WWND

What Would Noah Do?

Debt is the problem. The whole debt based economy is unsustainable, but how do we reset things without depriving the creditors from their reimbursements, the savers from their savings, and so forth?

At the end of the day, central banks are the ultimate creditors and created a system where they control all the wealth of the planet. So who can we take them on?

Cryptocurrency, in theory, was a way to bypass them. But in reality they quickly realized that threat and started manipulating them, just like they manipulate the value of precious metals, so they can keep issuing fiat currency.

By the way, I am the twit who asked Tabs for solutions ;).