Only at the intermission

tO understand what i am about to say, you need to understand a little about me. simply, i am the most fortunate. i may be “grouchy” as my business partner and my sons call me, but i am amazingly happy with my abundance. there are three things that bring misery to a man (and a woman, i suppose) especially at my mature age. these are health, wealth and spouse.

The last medical emergency in my family was about six years ago when son #2 had to be hospitalized with dengue fever. My personal “maintenance meds” are vitamin C, VCO, and a lovely 15-year-old Scotch I discovered last year. However, I pay my health and life insurance premiums in advance.

My incredible wife and I have been together long enough that she has come to tolerate the peculiarities and all my qualities that would drive a lesser woman to insanity. Or murder.

The wealth component is not only the amount of money you have but the ability to look to the future and see family financial stability. But for a “Sr. Citz” and for younger men also, ‘”wealth” includes THE JOB and also how you spend your time. Most men that do not follow the Asian habit of working until the grave are unhappy.

As a side note, I am willing to bet real money that the nasty people that post vicious comments on Socmed are afflicted with “Health, Wealth, and Spouse Deficiency Misery.” You know who I mean.

My study of cycles led me in 2015 to believe that we were headed into a global period of major political chaos. I wrote my thoughts here several times. Did that political chaos happen? Three words, in chronological order: Duterte. Brexit. Trump.

And if you think those are some sort of massive crack in the natural order of things, that is why today you may be “broker” and more miserable. A secret. I was also shocked when the political chaos unfolded. Economic chaos always follows political upheaval. On New Year’s Eve 2018 I told my family the clock was ticking, and now we had only one year left to prepare, to make all the money we could, and to lay a strong financial foundation for the future. Twenty-twenty and economic chaos were coming.

My wife and I spent December 2019 at luxurious beach resorts, and with the entire family on New Year’s Eve 2019. Obviously, we have not been out of the city since then.

It is wrong to say that the current economic chaos is caused by the pandemic. Covid-19 is a severe coronavirus ailment that kills the sick and elderly. The demographics in the Philippines are about the same as everywhere. The young—age 20 to 50 cohort—account for 65 percent of the cases. The dead are older, with the 60-plus cohort accounting for 68.6 percent. The economic chaos has been caused by the quarantines.

History over the last 5,000 years shows a constant short-term shift from confidence in government to confidence in the private sector, back and forth. Here is a silly example. The Israelites lost confidence in Jehovah and built a “private sector” Golden Calf. That could not be allowed to happen. So “President” Moses “burnt the golden calf in a fire, ground it to powder, scattered it on water, and forced the Israelites to drink it.”

And you thought the current economic chaos to bring the people back in line was harsh. As we used to say before Political Correctness, “The opera ain’t over until the fat lady sings.” We are only at the intermission, between Act One and Act Two.