Be Prepared

Posted by straightlinelogic 9 years, 3 months ago to Economics
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This is an excerpt. The full article can be accessed via the link.

Emotionalism, fueled by fear, the most powerful human emotion, surges during a crash. Even for those who expected it and may be profiting from it, the emotional register jumps. Humans are quite sensitive to other humans’ emotions, especially in a group setting. To counter the often manic impulses of the herd requires a deliberate braking effort, telling one’s self, perhaps out loud, to slow down, to breathe, to carefully consider—away from the herd—and reconsider important decisions, and then, before your decision is final, to talk with someone whose judgment you trust.
SOURCE URL: http://straightlinelogic.com/2015/01/15/be-prepared-by-robert-gore/


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  • Posted by terrycan 9 years, 3 months ago
    Very well written. I recommend reading "One Second After" It is a story about a small town in the South East. The story begins the day of an EMP attack and ends one year later. It gets ugly.
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    • Posted by voodoo59 9 years, 3 months ago
      One Second After should be required reading for everyone. The details and permutations of an EMP disaster are almost beyond comprehension. Buy it, read it, heed it !
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      • Posted by Non_mooching_artist 9 years, 3 months ago
        Agreed!!! I read it and altered a few things in and around my home. It's entirely plausible. I was asking a friend who is a software engineer how likely do you think something like this is? He is not a conspiracy theorist AT ALL, and he said it is highly likely, and the results would be like in One Second After. I recommended it to several here, and they were just as disturbed. One of whom is a diabetic...
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  • Posted by CircuitGuy 9 years, 3 months ago
    I agree with the parts about remaining calm during speculative manias and crashes. I agree it's tricky to time the markets and hardcore bears should hold precious metals and Treasuries. Although if I saw a mania in a particular sector, I think it makes sense to take some short positions.

    In the middle, though, you suddenly conflate bulls with statists. The two have nothing to do with one another. If I had to relate them, I'd think people who are more pessimistic about human ingenuity's ability to create value would be more statist. People who believe capitalism, excluding struggling capitalists looking for a scapegoat for why their deals aren't working at the moment, would be more bullish.
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    • Posted by 9 years, 3 months ago
      I don't think I did that. Can you copy and post the section where I conflated bulls with statists?
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      • Posted by CircuitGuy 9 years, 3 months ago
        Thank you for responding.

        My reading of this was that economic optimism "rests on faith in gov'ts."

        "risks and dangers should be on everyone’s mind, but they’re not. Hope springs eternal, and today’s version rests on faith in governments and their central banks to manage economies and financial markets. Few SLL readers share that faith, but for those that do, consider renouncing it (see the links at the end of the article for intellectual and empirical arguments against statist religion). "
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        • Posted by 9 years, 3 months ago
          I see what you're saying, and it's not entirely unjustified. What I was referring to was financial markets, where central governments have undertaken to support equity markets, and speculative participants slavishly follow the pronouncements of central bank and government officials. I certainly don't mean to imply that all economic optimism stems from governments (in fact the only rational optimism would not be based on governments at all), but I sure could have made that point clearer. Thanks for pointing that out, I appreciate it.
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