Market Report Week Two

Guest Post by The Zman

It may feel like this panic has gone on for a month, but in reality we are just in our second full week. Technically, the panic began the Thursday after Trump’s speech in which he announced the closing of air traffic from Europe. That was the 18th of March, so we are in day 12 now. The real frenzy did not get going until the weekend, when governors started telling people the end is upon us. Last week was the first full week of people sheltering in place and treated one another like lepers.

The market always offers lots of lessons about the reality of social organization. In the best of times, you see how poorly people naturally organize. The best argument against libertarianism is simply going outside and watching people. Now, the best argument against curve flattening is to see how people behave when told they must assume everyone else has a deadly plague. They take symbolic steps to defend themselves, but the practical necessity of life overcomes those efforts.

At the ghetto market, the poor people, migrants and minorities are doing nothing different from what they normally do. You’ll see some blacks wearing masks, more on that later, but otherwise nothing is different. The store itself is not engaging in the defensive measures you see in suburbia. It’s not that these people are careless or stupid, but that they have a different sense of risk. When you have less to lose, you have less to fear, especially when your neighbor is scarier than a virus.

In the suburbs where the beautiful people live, the market operates like a German concentration camp. On the way in a nice older gentlemen wipes down your cart and directs you to the delousing station for inspection. Once you are sanitized, you enter the otherwise normal market. Again, the blacks have masks on and some old people will look like they are working in a nuclear facility, but otherwise people are spreading their cooties on one another as they do in regular times.

This is the skeptic versus curve bender in a nutshell. The curve benders live and work outside the confines of reality, so their schemes sound reasonable. In the real world where such schemes go to die, something else is happening. That is, people are already starting to show signs of weariness. The cashier whispered to me that she and the other cashiers are getting sick of the nonsense. There’s talk of collective action to either get more pay or stop forcing them to do all this extra work.

This is something people learn when they have to manage people. Just because they are paid to follow your instructions does not mean they will. You have to convince them to accept the rules so they become instinct. That can only happen when those rules do not conflict with their natural instincts or create what appears to be an unnecessary burden on them. Every captain knows the morale of his crew is his top priority, as it is the only way they can be counted on to follow orders.

In theory, locking everyone in their homes until the virus dies out is a great way to slow the spread and eventually eradicate it. After all, this is what the Chinese supposedly did in Wuhan and who does not trust the Chinese? In reality, people will go along with this for a little while, but they will soon tire of it. That and we are not China. Too many Americans will simply ignore the precautions. Unless they immediately drop over dead, they become the example everyone follows.

One amusing exception to all of this, as usual, are black people. In the beautiful people areas, rich Asians can be seen wearing masks in the best of times. This is a cultural habit they bring with them. In this panic, blacks have jumped on the mask-wearing craze in a big way. At the market, it is not rare to see a black now wearing a mask and colorful rubber gloves. Black people love display items. It is a good bet that masks and other gear get Africanized as fashion accessories.

Another reason blacks are jumping on the mask craze is they fear the unknown in ways most white people cannot grasp. It is why they are more likely to believe in ghosts than other races. It’s also why they fall for nonsense like white privilege so easily. To them, it is just another spooky thing about white people that they cannot see, but they are sure must exist. It is just one of the hidden forces that control events. This virus will be the best crime fighting too Lagos has seen in generations.

Anyone who has had to manage a large number of people knows that sentiment can turn quickly against you, unless you stay on top of it. It’s why sportsball coaches have locker room insiders to tell them the mood of the players. It’s why every military has a layer between the officers and the enlisted men. More than a few grand schemes have been undermined by a quiet rebellion in the ranks. This is something we are already seeing that will become more evident next week.

This is why Trump is getting antsy about getting people back to work. It’s not because of the economy, although that is one reason. It’s because he has managed lots of people and he knows this dynamic. By next week, whatever benefit there was to this lock down will have been achieved. The inevitable wholesale revolt against it will make the whole enterprise pointless. Trump will want to be seen as leading the charge to get the nation back to work, so expect that to be the topic a week from now.

-----------------------------------------------------
It is my sincere desire to provide readers of this site with the best unbiased information available, and a forum where it can be discussed openly, as our Founders intended. But it is not easy nor inexpensive to do so, especially when those who wish to prevent us from making the truth known, attack us without mercy on all fronts on a daily basis. So each time you visit the site, I would ask that you consider the value that you receive and have received from The Burning Platform and the community of which you are a vital part. I can't do it all alone, and I need your help and support to keep it alive. Please consider contributing an amount commensurate to the value that you receive from this site and community, or even by becoming a sustaining supporter through periodic contributions. [Burning Platform LLC - PO Box 1520 Kulpsville, PA 19443] or Paypal

-----------------------------------------------------
To donate via Stripe, click here.
-----------------------------------------------------
Use promo code ILMF2, and save up to 66% on all MyPillow purchases. (The Burning Platform benefits when you use this promo code.)
Click to visit the TBP Store for Great TBP Merchandise

12
Leave a Reply

avatar
  Subscribe  
Notify of
SeeBee
SeeBee

comment image
Trump Tzar vs King Cuomo in a show down.

gman
gman

“The best argument against libertarianism is simply going outside and watching people.”

libertarians tend to be theoretical and to envision black-box social structures.

“This is why Trump is getting antsy … It’s because he has managed lots of people and he knows this dynamic.”

can you imagine hillary in charge? “it takes a village witch doctor” ….

Glock-N-Load

OMG, the Zman is racysiss. Bwahaha. This one made me laugh out loud 3 times.

Good article Zman.

Glock-N-Load

HEY, IF YOU DIDN’T READ THIS ARTICLE, IT’S PRETTY FUNNY.

“When you have less to lose, you have less to fear, especially
when your neighbor is scarier than a virus.

Too many Americans will simply ignore the precautions. Unless
they immediately drop over dead, they become the example everyone follows.

At the market, it is not rare to see a black now wearing a mask and colorful
rubber gloves. Black people love display items. It is a good bet that masks
and other gear get Africanized as fashion accessories.

Another reason blacks are jumping on the mask craze is they fear the unknown
in ways most white people cannot grasp. It is why they are more likely to
believe in ghosts than other races. It’s also why they fall for nonsense like
white privilege so easily. To them, it is just another spooky thing about white
people that they cannot see, but they are sure must exist. It is just one of
the hidden forces that control events. This virus will be the best crime
fighting too Lagos has seen in generations.

Fleabaggs
Fleabaggs

Donkey.
Tis true. Back when I took 4 years off to ride the rails I walked through Ghettos alone in broad daylight by staying on the main line. They absolutely would not set foot there or in a trainyard. Must have been residual from pre 1950 days.

SeeBee
SeeBee

It also takes some wit, grit and foresight to live that life. That could also be why the dearth of color.

Fleabaggs
Fleabaggs

See Bee
They wouldn’t even go on the tracks to rob containers or lone white boys. Now Mexicans are a different story, they used to have gunfights over who would rob what.

TC
TC

Trump wants everyone back to work because the alien masters achieved their objective – their $ multi-trillion bailouts and a 30-50% discount on stocks, and every day that clicks by where average people are home with their family, teaching their kids, re-learning independence, reconnecting with nature and realizing how much their job was sucking the life out of them is a very dangerous thing for the PTB. The gears of the machine must keep turning at all costs.

Glock-N-Load

Stocks will not go below 18,000

Anonymous
Anonymous

‘In this panic, blacks have jumped on the mask-wearing craze in a big way.’
The other day I saw some footage someone had taken of a colored fellow who was using a Nike sand shoe as a mask. Hilarious.

overthecliff
overthecliff

What an irresponsible article. People are going to die. More people are going to die than in the Ukrainian World War of 2014

Morongobill
Morongobill

Boo hoo!

Discover more from The Burning Platform

Subscribe now to keep reading and get access to the full archive.

Continue reading