2020 So Far: An Interest in Prepping

We're nine months into 2020 already, and I think we can all agree what a year it has been so far. Everyday lives across the globe have been greatly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic which is still spreading amongst us this very moment. Global supply chains have been disrupted, bilateral relations have turned sour, politicians have tried doing everything to deny the existence when COVID-19 was still not present in their own countries, and several high profile politicians and actors have even caught the virus.

The lockdown eventually came, when countries realized they had to do something before the entire population of their countries caught the virus. Hoarding behaviors sprang up first in Asia, while westerners derided the survival mindset of Asian countries. Before long, the very same behavior was observed in western countries where the most severe wave of the virus was seen. For awhile, the whole world was trying to get used to the life of lockdown; shops and malls were closed across the world, as people ate and worked from home. Things were starting to stabilize. 'No', said the powers that be, we're not ready for peace yet. And thus, after an act of police brutality, protests and riots began USA. Fueled by the pent-up frustration of having to stay home for the last three months, social unrest got to an all-time high and riots spread to the streets across the country, as were looters looking to cash in on the chaos. That wasn't the only thing that was at an all-time high though; stock markets around the world recovered from what must have been the shortest bear market. Whether it was the immense stimulus packages around the world that was artificially propping up asset prices or not is god's guess. As if economic outlook does not matter anymore, stock indices rose to record highs leaving behind their footing in reality, and behave as if they had a mind of their own.

Meanwhile back in reality, the economic engine has had a spanner thrown into the works and the aviation and tourism industry is basically left in limbo while they're burning cash to pay off fixed costs and expenses every day while barely generating any revenues. A good chunk of employees in these sectors have been forced to severely reduce spending in fear of getting their jobs cut anytime, which is a process that is well underway as employers in aviation, tourism and F&B are declaring bankruptcy left and right and choosing to close for good. This in turn leads to less consumer spending as the reduced spending from people in all these affected sectors mean less earnings for someone else. The economic engine is being shaken to its very roots. At this point, it's hard to say what might come next, but if I had to I'd bet heavily on the effects of climate change. The consequences of mankind's actions for the last 100+ years is fast catching up with us.

 Eventually though, you get used to whatever is happening. Mass gatherings now seem to be a thing of the past. Sporting events, concerts are now a relic from the past. I'm glad to have attended some of these events and if this is really how things will be until a vaccine is developed and distributed widely to the whole world, then these coming few years are going to be dark days for the entertainment industry, or anything where a live audience used to be the best way to view an event.

Looking back at how 2020 has passed so far, it seems ridiculous that the year has went by like that. Back in early March when the virus was starting to soar, life was relatively normal and I was in fact about to head to Vietnam. Nine days later, flying back to Singapore, I avoided stay-home notice by a single day. And that was it, one week back to work, my company embarked on a work from home arrangement. <To be continued>