Too Late for Regret

I’m ready.

Having spent this long listening to the convictions in my heart, I can’t go back. At whatever cost, I’m staying on this path. On the one hand, I could arrange for your inspection a list of proofs that this is working. None of it is conclusive in the sense of excluding other possible explanations, but I admitted that long ago. On the other hand, and by the same token, no one can prove this path is wrong for me.

When I shared with you that things in this world had passed a point of no return, I was not sure exactly what it meant at that point. At the same time, I’m pretty sure the impression on my heart included a lot of behind-the-scenes stuff I might never see. As I began to see that it included an economic shock, I knew some of that might also be somewhat hidden from us common people, but that it would be impossible to hide for very long.

Today I learned that Congress agreed to lift the debt ceiling for a limited period of time, something that has become routine over the years. However, there is also serious talk of repealing it in the meantime. Maybe you know that this would mean a high probability of inflation. Governments with a high debt burden like inflation because it means the debt is worth a lot less than before. Except, they won’t actually try to pay it down, just pay enough to keep it from going into default. It’s called “debt servicing” — just paying the interest.

That by itself is not enough to create an economic shock in the near term. Lots of natural disasters in a short period of time could do that. So if Hurricane Jose decides to mosey on over to Florida for a second round of shredding, that could hit the US economy harder than just one hurricane. That’s an awful lot of productivity being stopped for a very long period of time, and a lot of resource lost trying to clean up and maybe rebuild some of it. I’m quite certain that an awful lot of folks won’t go back and rebuild this time. There’s just too many of those folks already choking on debt. Once the flood waters recede, those properties will still be under water financially, even without new loans for rebuilding. And then there’s the local inspectors, permit offices, and the necessary labor force.

And then there are other natural disasters, like fires out west, earthquakes swarms that threaten worse, etc. Have you thought about the pollution from all those chemical plants around Houston, and one-sixth of our national petroleum refining capacity now off-line? Where will all of that clean-up debris go? These are just the things we know about as obvious. There is already a major patch of friction on our economy, but those of us outside the disaster areas won’t feel it immediately. Wait for the gasoline prices to jump; that should be the first indicator.

These are things you and I could know in our fleshly minds. What I cannot explain is the overwhelming sense I have that there’s much more going on behind the scenes. So if you aren’t sensing it in your own heart, there’s nothing I can write to make it more real. I’m still on edge, still utterly certain something hard to bear is now falling upon us.

If none of this pans out, I suppose I’ll just have to tell people I’m not sane by common definitions. It won’t change what I write here except for that extra notice that I probably belong in a padded room.