I’m not sure why, but I’ve become less stressed about King Trump’s administrative actions. Part of it is recovering from yet another cold – things are always worse when you’re sick. Also, I’ve just made some proactive moves to protect our assets – I just moved 10% of our stock/bonds investments into real estate, which I think will be more protected from the ongoing chaos. Plus, I’m moving the majority of our remaining equity investments into energy and utilities, as I think those will be the absolute last sectors to fall if things go completely to hell. Food, entertainment, insurance, travel, tech, housing, etc are all financial sectors liable to crash on the course we’re on. But people will fight for their electricity, their water, their heat and AC, to the bitter end. When those fall we’re officially in apocalypse territory.

The first indicator will be next month’s employment report. If it’s as bad as I expect, we’re on the slippery slope. Inflation will rise, interest rates will rise. The value of the dollar will fall. I hope I’m wrong, but pretty sure I’m not. Sure enough to revamp my retirement funds appropriately. Those are NOT casual decisions, because there’s not enough time left in my personal runway to recover from a bad mistake.

This may be a great example of the power of taking action. Rather than feeling helpless, doing *something* provides a confidence boost. And something doesn’t have to be financial. You can get involved in a local political group, a book club. You can run for office. You can start a neighborhood get-together. Donate to your favorite nonprofit, PBS for example. I may end up doing all of those things, because any/all of those are better than the end game of taking up weapons and fighting for democracy as a last ditch effort. At my advanced age, I have no illusions about my chances in a world where we’re in physical combat (see the recent movie, Civil War, which is now quite within possibility).

I *may* actually buy some guns. My brother Don would be proud of me if I do, but I think that’s a tiny, tiny hedge against the risk of armed conflict with…looters? MAGA-types? It’s a worst case scenario “solution”. Gotta think about this one.

Bottom line, do something. Don’t just sit around and fret.