What Does It Mean To 'Melt Down?'

I can’t remember a time in my life when the world appeared so close to Armageddon.

Well, maybe once during the Cuban missile crisis of 1962. But I was a young boy then and didn’t really understand much except that I was made to crawl under my desk at school for reasons that were never explained. No one ever threatened to actually use their nukes, as I recall, but their sheer proximity was enough to laser focus an entire nation on that existential threat.

Today, we face an authoritarian fascist with much more powerful weapons who openly threatens to use them.

We also have climate change pointing to the extinction of life on earth, something unheard of during the happy days of the 60’s.

Today, if you read the news, no one seems particularly concerned about the melting of the earth, either through nuclear war or the impact of greenhouse gases.

Rather, most seem far more interested in the current meltdown of the stock market. While few know or care that a Russian first strike would kill 90 million in the first few hours of engagement, or that it was 143 degrees Fahrenheit last weekend in the Indian subcontinent where more than a billion are living, but mostly dying, a disturbing number of people can recite the fact that U.S. small cap stocks are down 27% from their 2021 highs, and that inflation is running at 8.5%.

They don’t recall the terror of having nuclear weapons 90 miles off American shores, but do recall that the bear markets of 2001 and 2008 reduced the SPX by 50% and both indexes took many years to recover. Common cocktail conversation today doesn’t reflect the real possibility, perhaps probability, that we all burn to death, and soon, but rather, reflects the horror of knowing a 50% loss in one’s portfolio requires a 100% gain to recover.

Those in the know can speak authoritatively about the Fed raising interest rates and the likelihood they will push them to 6 or 8% before they stop. They speak darkly about how this will trigger a recession and even more losses in their portfolios.

But not to worry, most opine.

“Just a natural correction. Nothing to be concerned about. It’s just like before.”

Just like before?

I reflexively inhale which results in me spitting my whiskey on floor.

What about a world seemingly bent on destroying democracy and replacing it with authoritarian fascists supported by religious fundamentalists, white supremacists, right wing extremists, all openly disdainful of laws, at least as they apply to them. Think Russia, China, North Korea, Venezuela, Turkey, Thailand, and virtually all of the Middle East. And we can’t forget the United States, of course, who tried its own man-child brand of authoritarian fascism between 2016 and 2020, and appears ready to do so again.

“How about a world that is one button away from annihilation? How is the market factoring in that possibility?”

The cocktail crowd goes silent.

“Or how about the fact that 90 of the world’s most respected climate scientists from 40 countries recently concluded that if humans don’t take immediate, collective action to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius or less by 2040, there will be no turning back. The extreme droughts, devastating wildfires, massive floods, deadly hurricanes, and widespread famines will end the human experiment as we know it.”

“You’re such a bummer, Jim. Have another drink. And how about them Cowboys?”

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