Judge Not, Lest Ye Be Judged

When I started this blog in late 2006 I recognized the fate that awaited the lies of that era. I maintained no illusion that I would be spared the relentless meat grinder of corporate profit. I would not be disappointed. My denouement arrived three years ago this coming week. Nevertheless, the commonly accepted approach to understanding 2008's exploded corruption was to double down on fraud, and heighten disdain for those who won't. Such is the love for the consumption lifestyle. The zombies are addicted to consumption, so any thought of pre-emptive downsizing is beyond consideration. For anyone under the age of retirement, especially young people, Trump's wholly fraudulent "greatest economy ever" is the worst economy since the Great Depression -  when measured in terms of wages, underemployment, career advancement, income inequality, job security, healthcare, non-existent pensions, and of course Federal debt - which is now "GDP" according to today's de facto Idiocracy. This pseudo-economy is a force of ever-increasing oppression, to service the needs of a dwindling minority of the ultra-wealthy, and the retirement delusions of Madoff-inspired gamblers.

Having worked 25 years in the IT industry I had seen the highs and lows of the Dilbert world. I lived "The Office", before Steve Carell made it a thing. Over the course of those decades, I re-invented myself many times over. So when the death knell of three serial asset bubbles fell AGAIN in 2016 I faced an all too familiar choice - rinse and repeat. OR, just call it a day. At that point, my Calvinistic side would no longer allow me to continue down the path most followed. So, I headed straight for the ditch.

When I reached my nadir, I contemplated jumping off a bridge. But then it occurred to me that I couldn't take the exact same pain I'd been describing for others, for a decade straight. So I took the pain.

Little did I know how much my self-inflicted crash and burn would upset those around me, as the ripples from my apparent "failure" threatened so many well-maintained delusions of grandeur. After all, if it could happen to him, it could happen to anyone. I had no idea that the values of gratitude and humility I've been espousing for a decade straight, lie so far beneath the swaying heights of the decaying status quo.

I had quit the corporate rat race. And yes, I have never been happier. My life is now measured in moments instead of blurred years. It's all great, aside from those awkward times when I am forced to explain why I quit the rat race. They still don't get it. Far more eager to race to judgment than to acknowledge the inherent fraud of this era. My new life is anathema to the consumption status quo - the obligatory assumption that every day brings "more", even when the erstwhile American Dream has been strip mined down to robbing Peter to pay Paul.  

Now I do gig work - on my own terms, with some trading on the side. No stranger to efficient lifestyle. 

Got me so far?

It's not the end of the world. It's the beginning.

Make no mistake, it's not for everyone. Those who view the accumulated liabilities of their consumption lifestyle as memorial to a lifetime of achievement, won't make the turn. That all has to go overboard post haste, or the ship sinks very quickly. Like it or not, the sharing economy is the future, those who fight it will learn the hard way - having learned less than nothing from 2008, other than to double down on fraud and heighten their disdain for those who don't. 

And yes, I am always long brick shitting volatility. Because someone has to be right at the end of this fraud. And if it's one thing I won't tolerate, it's being conned yet again, by even bigger lies and liars than last time. And the time before.