Boeing Leads Stocks Another Bump Higher; What Your Life Will Be Like in 2021 and Beyond

The economy is changing, rapidly.

Under the surface of government's official statistics and the normally noisy gyrations of the stock market there's a literal revolution going on in America and around the globe about how business gets done, how society operates, how people live day-to-day.

Changes, brought about not by the coronavirus itself, but by government and popular response to it are quietly, relentlessly occurring just beneath the surface of everyday life.

Some of the changes are overtly obvious. Forced to stay home during the various state lockdowns, people didn't drive as much, if at all. Nobody sat down for a meal at any restaurant. Most of them were closed. If you had kids, you got to know them better... much better. How people dealt with that was a variable count. Your house is probably cleaner than it's ever been. With nothing much to do, many people cleaned like they were on maid service.

These are just a few of the changes that have already happened. What happens next?

As the government and propaganda media - by inference, any national TV or radio network, mainstream newspaper, and local affiliates - push the agenda of a second wave of virus outbreak more people will be wearing masks, the overall level of stupidity will rise, more businesses will be forced into bankruptcy, homelessness will become endemic in cities over 100,000 population, and you will likely make less money than you did at the same time in 2019.

What the government and media don't want you to know is that the virus is getting weaker, not stronger. As is usually the case, COVID-19 will succumb to the same conditions that have befallen every virus before it and likely every virus afterwards. As infections (cases) proliferate, more and more people become immune. People prone to serious, sometimes deadly outcomes - the obese, those with prior medical conditions (especially diabetes and heart conditions), the elderly - will be more effectively isolated, resulting in many fewer deaths than were experienced during the initial blast of the novel coronavirus.

When the virus reaches a stage at which it has either infected almost everybody (herd immunity) or has mutated so much that it's about as deadly as a common cold, it will be a non-issue, but the media and government agitprop actors like Drs. Birx and Fauci from the CDC will continue to push the "wear a face mask and social distance" mantra. Eventually, even the dumbest people on the planet will be able to see through their agenda for the Covi-Pass (now a real app for your tracking device cell phone), vaccine (don't take it; it won't be effective and may make you sicker) and the wreckage of the US economy (well underway) and begin to ignore all their dire warnings and fear-mongering.

Here's a fact: Over the past week (6/23-6/29) there have been 3,791 new deaths attributed to COVID-19, an average of 542 per day. Compare that to roughly two months ago (4/21-4/27), when there were 12,859 deaths, an average of 1,837 per day. That's quite a drop. In fact, it's a decrease of 70.52%.

Confirmed cases, from the same periods were:
6/23-6/29: 275,501 total; 39,357 per day.
4/21-4/27: 206,818 total; 29,545 per day.

What this means is that more people are testing positive, but fewer are dying. Instead of scaring everybody into believing that the virus is advancing into a "second wave," we should be celebrating that it's on the decline because the case fatality rate (number of deaths divided by the number of confirmed cases) is cratering.

In April, it was 0.062 (or 6.2%), meaning that six out of every 100 confirmed cases resulted in death.

In June, it is 0.014 (1.4%). Only one or two out of every hundred confirmed cases is resulting in death.

That's HUGE! The virus is being defeated. Kudos to honest doctors, nurses and health care professionals. A middle finger to the CDC, mainstream media, the federal government, Drs. Birx and Fauci, and anybody else preaching the apocalyptic message of the COVID-19 "we're all gonna die" false prophecy narrative.

Regardless, life (for most people with an IQ over 100, which excludes most of the BLM and ANTIFA goons) is changing.

Here is a short list of what your life may be like in 2021:

• You will work from home more often
• You may have started or expanded your own home business
• You will watch less TV
• You will get more, better, relevant information from the internet
• You will not trust the government at all
• You will dress more casually
• You will be eating better (home-cooked meals over restaurants)
• You will probably have become a better cook
• You will be making less money (but saving more)
• You will be more diligent about budgeting and saving
• You will not be wearing a mask in public
• You will go to a restaurant, sporting event or concert
• You will appreciate your car more
• You will take a trip or vacation, but you will drive, not fly
• You will be happier, less stressed, and healthier

If all that sounds too good to be true, believe it. Many people who lived through the depression have attested to those years being the best of their lives. Money wasn't a top-of-the-list agenda. Living was what everybody had top of mind. People helped each other. People cared for each other. Almost nobody invested in stocks. Food was cheap; almost everybody had a back-yard garden. Many raised chickens or rabbits.

As one person who lived through the 1930s in a medium-sized city once put it: "Nobody thought of themselves as poor because we all were poor."

The standard of living in the Great Depression didn't go down. Perhaps it did at first, but, in terms of human well-being and satisfaction, it went up and continued to improve until the entire country was once again gainfully employed due to the World War II effort. And then, America boomed, becoming the greatest country with the greatest economy the world had ever seen.

So, if you get a little stressed out over the current conditions, remember that it's temporary and it will pass. Make your life better. Make your neighbor's life better. Care more. Give more. Live more. The future looks brighter than ever.

In case you still have an interest in stocks, they did well on Monday (as they almost always do... it's a psychological thing. The stock market going higher on Mondays supposedly gives everybody a rise). The Dow was the big winner on the day, with Boeing leading the charge, up 24.48 points (+14.40%).

Imagine that. A company that's losing money, on the brink of bankruptcy, which makes airplanes that crash and kill people, selling to an industry (airlines, air travel) that's collapsing is the leading stock of the day.

Go right ahead. Put more money into that failing enterprise. The rest of us are moving on to a better life without Boeing, or the stock market, or the Federal Reserve, all of which deserve to die painful deaths.

Excelsior!

At the Close, Monday, June 29, 2020:
Dow: 25,595.80, +580.25 (+2.32%)
NASDAQ: 9,874.15, +116.93 (+1.20%)
S&P 500: 3,053.24, +44.19 (+1.47%)
NYSE: 11,777.08, +172.66 (+1.49%)

WEEKEND WRAP: Stocks Slide; Island Reversal Seen; Gold, Silver Soar; Treasuries Flatline; Argentina On The Ropes

For a second time in the past three weeks, stocks suffered another round of losses which accelerated as the week progressed. Of the major indices, taking the biggest hit were the Dow Industrials, followed by the NYSE Composite, S&P 500, and NASDAQ, in percentage terms.

The Dow's 3.31% fall was made possible by a Friday selloff which saw the blue chips decline by 730 points, the largest selloff since June 11, when stocks suffered a major blow preceded by an ominous island reversal of June 5, 8, 9, and 10. (see video below for more)

Friday's action may be presaging an oncoming decline of a magnitude rivaling the initial slide in March. The second quarter comes to a close on Tuesday and everybody on wall Street knows that it's difficult to "price in" a GDP decline which may be on the order of 35-50% when the first figure is announced on July 30.

Prior to that momentous milestone, corporate earnings reports will begin to flow to the street following next week's July 4 Independence Day holiday. The coming week will be shortened by a day, as Friday is a national holiday, giving most Americans a three-day weekend. Stock markets, banks, the postal service and most city and county offices will be closed. Hopefully, most of them will reopen on July 6.

For the week just concluded, treasury yields were clobbered, the 10-year note falling from 0.71 to 0.64%, the lowest since May 14 and approaching the record low of 0.58% from April 21st. As the 30-year bond yield fell from 1.47 to 1.37 over the course of the week, the curve flattened significantly, 125 basis points covering the entire complex. If this is what the Fed considers success in "curve control," they can have it, with the short end - one-month to two-years - covered by just five basis points (0.12 to 0.17%).

These low rates at the front end aren't by accident. They are policy and they are indicative of a recession if not outright depression. Adamant that they will not go to negative rates as has been the case in the Eurozone and Japan for years, the Fed's real rates have been in the red pretty much since the previous crisis in '08-'09, i.e., they were lower than the inflation rate. The one year note only crested above one percent in 2017. A year ago, it was yielding 1.92%, a stark comparison to Friday's close at 0.17%.

The Fed promised cheap credit and they are delivering.

Oil prices were slapped down after WTI crude tested $40/barrel, peaking at $40.73 on Monday, only to close out at $38.49 on Friday. Expect oil to continue trading sideways to lower if stock prices begin to falter, or, vice versa. Oil declines could help trigger or exacerbate a rundown on equities.

Precious metals were by far the big winners for the week. Both gold and silver advanced smartly despite a desperate attempt to crater their prices Friday on the NYMEX failed miserably. The morning rout sent gold reeling $20 to the downside, bottoming just below $1745 per ounce. So enamored with "V"-shaped recoveries, Wall Street got an unexpected one when gold prices recovered all of the losses within an hour and proceeded to close near the high for the day at $1771.50. Laughably, Friday's recorded London PM fix was set at $1747.60, setting up a $24 weekend arbitrage gap. Maybe, considering the problems the paper COMEX markets have had in recent months, it's not so funny for gold shorts, which are burning.

Silver savers should be delighted with the price action this week. Not only was a raid similar to the gold price suppression thwarted on both Thursday and Friday, but spot edged three cents higher than the closeout future price, at $17.83 the ounce, the highest Friday price since February 21, just prior to the epic COVID collapse.

Current physical prices continue to demand high premiums. This week saw prices for silver art bars absolutely explode higher, some one ounce bars selling above $40. Average and median prices for one ounce gold coins and bars were captured at prices $33 to $45 higher than a week ago.

Here's a glimpse at current selected prices on eBay (shipping included):

Item: Low / High / Average / Median
1 oz silver coin: 25.95 / 40.95 / 30.92 / 29.47
1 oz silver bar: 27.00 / 45.44 / 34.62 / 32.93
1 oz gold coin: 1,827.85 / 2,109.95 / 1,919.39 / 1,901.60
1 oz gold bar: 1,861.66 / 1,920.65 / 1,879.77 / 1,873.92


Argentina's Debt Crisis Far From Resolution

Argentina's government continues to play cat and mouse with international creditors, extending the deadline for negotiations concerning $65 billion worth of bonds to July 24.

Having already defaulted on a $500 million interest payment on May 22, the government is doubling down, indicating that it will miss another similar payment in June, which has a 30-day grace period. The chances of a settlement agreeable to the government and its creditors continue to deteriorate as interest payments are missed and the value of the bonds plummets, some selling off to as low as 37 cents on the dollar.

Talks stalled over the past two weeks as investors including BlackRock, Fidelity, AllianceBernstein, and Ashmore Group PLC, rejected a government proposal tied to agricultural exports while seeking recovery of between 49 and 57 cents on the dollar.

At the same time, the province of Buenos Aires, Argentina’s largest province, is negotiating with bondholders on the restructuring of $7.148 billion in debt and extended its deadline for a negotiated settlement to July 31.

Per previous proposals, payments would not begin being made on the currently-defaulted bonds until 2025. This article, published by the Council on Foreign Relations, offers the most comprehensive details, including charts that break down Argentina's $323 billion of debt, all of which is at dangerous risk levels.

At a time when the country's GDP is predicted to decline by 10 percent, the severity of the financial crisis cannot be understated, though mainstream television media in America has nearly completely neglected to report on the issue. Argentina has suffered through decades of boom and bust over the past 45 years, 20 of which showed GDP in decline.

It's not a question of when Argentina defaults on its debts, it's a question of how severe the defaults will be, how they will affect government pensions, and the ability of the government to maintain its status as a going concern. With a population estimated at 45 million, Argentina's problems are quickly becoming everybody's, as tens and perhaps hundreds of billions are in the process of being eviscerated.

With the government of President Alberto Fernandez content to play kick the can by extending the negotiation deadline for a fifth time, the dithering is taking its toll on investors. While a formal default has only been declared on portions of Argentina's debt, triggering the awarding of a credit default swap (CDS) recently, these things have a nasty way of snowballing into global crises, as was the case with Mexico in 1982, the Asian Crisis in 1997, and when Russia devalued the ruble in 1998.

Having to deal with some of the most severe lockdowns in the world due to the COVID-19 panic, Argentina is ill-prepared to deal with a financial hardship of this magnitude. The situation could spiral out of control at any time, when one side or the other finally throws in the towel and walks away. Consider Argentina's plight a fluid situation with more headlines and fireworks likely over coming months.

At the Close, Friday, June 26, 2020:
Dow: 25,015.55, -730.05 (-2.84%)
NASDAQ: 9,757.22, -259.78 (-2.59%)
S&P 500: 3,009.05, -74.71 (-2.42%)
NYSE: 11,604.43, -260.68 (-2.20%)

For the Week:
Dow: -855.91 (-3.31%)
NASDAQ: -188.90 (-1.90%)
S&P 500: -88.69 (-2.86%)
NYSE: -375.19 (-3.14%)

Peak Prosperity's Adam Taggert and friends discuss threats to the stock market, highlighted by their charting of the recent Island Reversal:

COVID Scamdemic: Texas, Florida, California COVID Case Increase The Result of 70% More Testing

Is COVID-19 spreading across the country, or are the numbers reported higher due to increased testing?

That seemed to be the simplest way to detect medical/media/government complicity in what's become known as a plandemic or scamdemic designed to scare people into submissive behaviors such as wearing masks, social distancing, staying home and closing businesses.

Mainstream media is blaring that COVID-19 is spreading rapidly across the country, with "hot spots" in Texas, Florida, and California, coincidentally, the three most populous states in the country.

The figures obtained came from a well-established site known as the Covid Tracking Project at the Atlantic Their data and state-by-state histories of testing revealed some very telling numbers.

Wanting to be as up-to-date as possible, we checked the seven days just past, and started with Texas.

Texas tested 251,599 from Friday, June 19, through Thursday, June 25, an average of 35,943 per day.

Wanting to be fair and unbiased, we would have tested for the same dates in May (19th through 25th), but instead opted for testing done on a Friday through Thursday (same days of the week as the current data) prior to Memorial Day weekend, so we went with May 15-21.

For the seven days in May that we tracked, Texas performed 152,868 tests, an average of 21,838 per day

Texas:

June 19-25: Tests: 251,599; Average/day: 35,943
May 15-21: Tests: 152,868; Average/day: 21,838

Florida:

June 19-25: Tests: 209,332; Average/day: 29,905
May 15-21: Tests: 165,649; Average per day: 23,664


California:

June 19-25: Tests: 619,815; Average/day: 88,545
May 15-21: Tests: 316,476; Average/day: 45,211

Well, it doesn't take Elon Musk (a rocket scientist, and, notably, father of the external combustion engine - that's a joke, son) to see that a lot more testing has been done recently, and that would - all things remaining somewhat equal - result in a higher number of positives.

According to the media at ABC, NBC, CBS, FOX, and CNN, whooopie! We've got ourselves a big story here.

Totaling it all up, the three most populous states in the America performed 445,753 more tests in the seven days just past than they did in the seven days prior to Memorial Day weekend. That's an increase in tests performed of 70.20%. In California, where the bulk of the testing was performed, it was nearly double, with 95.85% more tests performed in the last week than in the sample from May.

More testing, more positives, RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!

Additionally, most of the testing sites are in and around big cities, where the virus spreads most readily. The same can be said of the phony racial angle. Most minorities live in and around big cities. Same for Biden beating Trump in the latest polls.

Money Daily didn't cherry pick the days. Using the best and simplest methodology available, it's conclusive: you're being scammed by the medical profession, the government, and the media. Makes one wonder what else they're lying about.

Welcome to the land of the fleece and the home of the naive.

Have a nice weekend.

At the Close, Thursday, June 25, 2020:
Dow: 25,745.60, +299.66 (+1.18%)
NASDAQ: 10,017.00, +107.84 (+1.09%)
S&P 500: 3,083.76, +33.43 (+1.10%)
NYSE: 11,865.11, +138.58 (+1.18%)

Wealth As a Relative Term With Blinders (and Masks) Off

Stocks took a pretty good beating on Wednesday, tough news for the longs who have feasted on Fed funny money over the past three months, and much longer, if you include all of the gains made via QE from 2009-2019.

While this may come as a shock to some readers, Money Daily's editorial slant is slightly unenthusiastic when it comes to owning stocks and/or having a 401k or other retirement plan invested manly in equities.

The rationale comes from decades of experience watching stocks go up and down and up and down, sometimes staying at lower levels for long, painful periods of time. Not that owning stocks is a bad thing, it's just that stocks are only one asset class - of many - and proper balance comes from diversifying among a multitude of assets, such as fixed income, real estate, precious metals, commodities, collectibles, art, one's own business, and hard assets such as income-producing machinery, vehicles, food-producing land, water, alternative energy, computers and peripherals, furniture, and other mundane items like cooking and baking essentials, hardware and household items.

Taken as a whole, Americans are over-invested n stocks. The rich like them because they have enough money to afford occasional losses. Ordinary, less-wealthy types can't take on losses readily without bursting their retirement dreams, which, if you're retired or know anybody who is, isn't all golf and boating.

That said, here's part of the Motley Fool's take on retirement savings:

Many workers assume that Social Security will suffice in retirement because their living expenses will go down once they stop working. The reality, however, is that things like housing and transportation tend to only drop modestly, if at all, during retirement. The reason? While many seniors enter retirement with their mortgages already paid off, as homes age, they tend to require more repairs and maintenance, the cost of which can be enough to offset an absent mortgage payment. The same holds true for owning a car -- though retirees don't have commuting costs to contend with, they still have to worry about insurance and auto maintenance, which can be far more expensive than filling up a vehicle's tank twice a week.

The statement above, of course, supports the Fool's claim that Social Security isn't enough to cover living expenses after one has stopped working. It's rubbish if one happens to be inventive, resilient, independent-thinking, and self-sufficient.

The idea that repairs and maintenance of a home are somehow equal to a mortgage payment requires some extensive mental gymnastics. Besides, repairs and maintenance were always a part of the deal even before the mortgage was paid off. No home is perfectly maintenance-free. The same goes for the car assumptions they make. If you're not driving much, your maintenance costs will decline in a somewhat inverse proportion. The Motley Fool likes to pimp stocks. They're not very good at turning screws or fastening bolts and rationalize that you aren't either.

Their contention that Social Security won't cover living expenses in retirement is bollocks. In 2020, even taking early retirement at age 62, the maximum benefit is $2,265, and goes all the way up to $3,790 if one delays collecting until age 70.

Now, anybody who can't make ends meet on $3,790 a month has some serious spending issues. Even taking in less than the maximum, say, $1300-1600, isn't bad if you've got your mortgage paid off, a functioning automobile, good health (that's very important) and low to no debt. What else is there? Sounds like a lot of ham and cheese sandwiches, and steaks, and cold beer.

Unless you're an absolute Amazonian compulsive shopper (they're out there), not being able to get by on anything between $1200 and $2200 a month seems a little preposterous.

So, let's blow the lid off retirement plans, IRAs, and all the other stock-first plans that often aren't invested in one's best interests, carry management fees, are taxable, and can't be touched until a certain age without triggering a penalty. There is such a thing as a retirement trap and many find themselves lodged firmly within its jowls, so, when stocks go down - and they need to go down quite a bit more before considered affordable as investments - there is a crowd that might be celebrating. 42% of people don't have a traditional retirement pension plan, so they might, besides being a little bit jealous of their neighbors, think cheaper stocks are just what America needs.

Consider that couple down he road who worked hard all of their lives and now have a little $1.5 million nest egg, and that's not including Social Security.

If they both retire at 65 and live to be 90, they can withdraw $5,000 a month if the plan is to spend it all while still drawing breaths. That's not bad. Their only concern should be health issues, so they'd be best-suited to squirrel away the bulk of their wealth into a living trust or other protective vehicle, to avoid having it all taken away by by the blood-curdling costs of a nursing home.

Or, they could buy a boat or two, a few nice cars, some luxurious furniture and carpeting, some cool art, gold, silver, maybe a fully-functioning woodworking pole barn, and live it up.

The point is, keeping all of your currency inside the rigid and rigged control mechanism known as the stock market is probably not the wisest choice.

On that note, the current condition, be it mostly or altogether contrived, has everybody worried about dying before their time from the dreaded coronavirus. Note that rioting, looting and protesting seem to have died down quite a bit. Nothing on the nightly propaganda network shows about any protests, burning, drama-queening, queer-baiting, LBGVTQSWYRetc., statuary defacing, looting, wilding (old-school reference), soy-latte slurping, or general urban mayhem were to be seen the past few days.

Can we just get this all over with now? Take off your masks. The plandemic is a massive hoax. All the talk of a second viral wave is just dancing numbers. Black lives matter as much as all others. Joe Biden? Get real.

Re-elect Trump even though he's not perfect (who is?). But, he's light years ahead of Joe Biden and the bone-headed Democrats. Let's not forgive nor forget the damage done by slow-walking Republicans. They're as much a part of the problem and offer no viable solutions to anything.

Re-elect Trump and hope that the Dems hold the House and take the Senate. Nothing better for Americans than a split federal government. While they're flailing about, bickering and keeping the slimy, asshat media busy, we can get back to work and play and have some fun again.

Stop the BS. Take off your masks. Remove the blinders the media and government has forced upon you and start living like a human being again.

Adjunctive to stocks sliding, the price of oil was lower on the day, seen at $37.57 a barrel for WTI crude Thursday morning. It's a step in the right direction.

Treasury yields fell across the complex. The 10-year note checked in at 0.69%. On-month bills netted out to 0.11% while the 30-year dripped to 1.44%.

Gold and silver got their usual spanking for being too pricey so close to futures expirations. Gold, getting a little too close to $1800 an ounce, had to be taken down, but it's only a matter of time before both metals make sustained advances. One might say they already have in a very real, physical sense, considering the high premiums being taken by dealers and eBay sellers.

Wealth is all so very relative. The couple with $1.5 million in stock might seem rich today, but, in other circumstances, as we saw during the lockdowns, the guy with a couple ounces of gold, a fully-stocked liquor cabinet, a pantry loaded with canned goods (and toilet paper ;-) may be far better off than his neighbors.

In a blind society, the one-eyed man is king.

At the Close, Wednesday, June 24, 2020:
Dow: 25,445.94, -710.16 (-2.72%)
NASDAQ: 9,909.17, -222.20 (-2.19%)
S&P 500: 3,050.33, -80.96 (-2.59%)
NYSE: 11,726.54, -351.21 (-2.91%)

Who Is and Who Isn't Prepared for an Unknowable Future

Preppers.

They're out there. They're ready. And they're probably not going to share.

The world has changed in recent months. In case you've been living in a cave (probably a good case to hide out, away from the coronavirus and street protests) for the past four to six months you're likely noticed that everyday life isn't so everyday anymore. People wear masks, some even while driving in their cars with the windows rolled up. You may notice people keeping their distance from you, and from everybody else.

Then there are those pesky protesters. First, they were all about social injustice. Then, they looted stores and burned buildings. After that, they began knocking over statues of people they think were bad eggs. People who had slaves. People who didn't. People who were just evil enough, supposedly, to be immortalized a la statuary, are being histrionically defamed.

The protesters defaced the Lincoln Memorial. Don't ask why, because Abraham Lincoln, America's 16th president, is largely credited with having freed the slaves on the new continent. He purportedly saved the nation. Well, no good deed goes unpunished in this current craziness over race, injustice, inequality.

Statues of confederate heroes, Robert E. Lee, and others, have been toppled or removed, but the madness hasn't stopped there. Calls for removal or actual toppling of statues of George Washington (founder of our nation, first president and a slave owner), Thomas Jefferson (one of the principal authors of the US constitution, third president, slave owner), and even Teddy Roosevelt (Rough Rider, 26th president, not a slave owner) have been in the news.

It just so happens that Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln, and Roosevelt are the four faces carved into Mount Rushmore in South Dakota, prompting the governor, Kristi Noem, to stand up and vow to protect the world famous monument, saying, "not on my watch," as a message to would-be defacers and defilers. Those fighting words probably have some ANTIFA people triggered.

Anyhow, life in 2020 is different than it was just six months ago and we're not even half way through the year yet. How well one has prepared for these changes is largely a function of how well aware one is of one's current environs, how much trust one has in fellow humans, the police, and the government, and how seriously one is about preserving one's well-being.

Some people - like the fabled preppers - were well ahead of the curve, having staked out some rural location years ago and built upon it, cleared it, farmed it, and now live on it in peace with nature and neighbors at least half a mile away. They've got their guns and ammo, chickens and cattle, greens and beans, solar power, and just about everything they need to hunker down for months, if not years, without interaction with the electrical grid or commercial America if need be.

Those are - all of a sudden - the enlightened, who will remain far from the fray in the cities and be relied upon for rebuilding what's left after the dust settles, should conditions worsen. They won't catch the COVID, nor will they engage with radical protesters. They're likely to stay on their farms and enclaves for a long, long time.

There are those of us who too a look at the coronavirus as it spread from China, through Asia, into Europe and eventually to North America and thought that it might be time to stock up on food, make sure our gas generators were working and made plans to isolate. They turned out to be prescient, if not a little overzealous. But, they were right. Just about everywhere in the United States was under some form of lockdown or stay-at-home guideline in April, May, June.

The bulk of the population was completely caught off guard by the virus and the lockdowns and then the protests. Among the most unfortunate were those who made few plans and found themselves in food lines or at a WalMart wondering where all the toilet paper had gone. Those people were unprepared. Some may now have learned a little bit of a lesson and gotten their pantries stocked, maybe bought a gun and some ammo, and think they're ready for whatever might come next.

Most of the unprepared did not take any action. They went to the food banks, cashed their $1200 checks and spent a month to six weeks bingeing on Netflix. Those living in cities were thoroughly surprised by the large scale protests. Some of them probably were participants. If a second wave of the virus turns out to be more real than merely fudged statistics, they're toast. Burnt toast. They'll find themselves back at the food banks, broke, in fear for their lives, and eventually likely culled from the herd by either the virus or roving, menacing street gangs.

In the early days of the pandemic, it was probably good enough to buy a few month's worth of canned goods and shelter in place. As life becomes more about survival than prosperity, as people become more desperate, more violent, more destitute, it's not going to be good enough. Millions have lost jobs. The enhanced unemployment benefits are going to run out at the end of July. More than four million people have skipped making mortgage payments. Delinquencies on student loans, car loans, and credit cards are on the rise. The economy, if it recovers at all - and despite the recent happy face Wall Street rally - will do so very slowly. the new normal is going to persist and many, many, millions of people are still unprepared.

You might have a 401k, a paid off mortgage on a home in a nice neighborhood, a work-from-home job, and a fully-stocked pantry, but will it be enough? Did you start a garden? Are you dependent on the grid for power? Do you know what you will do if intruders storm your palace?

These are hard questions, questions people don't like to ask themselves, and thus, many don't. About 60% of the adult population thinks everything is going to be back to normal in six months to a year. If they're right, they may make it to the proverbial other side. If they're wrong, they'll wonder why they didn't take the Boy Scout motto - Be Prepared - more seriously.

At the Close, Tuesday, June 23, 2020:
Dow: 26,156.10, +131.14 (+0.50%)
NASDAQ: 10,131.37, +74.89 (+0.74%)
S&P 500: 3,131.29, +13.43 (+0.43%)
NYSE: 12,077.75, +48.83 (+0.41%)