09:24 – Amazon’s big sale seems to have sputtered. From what I saw yesterday during several visits to the site, I think “epic fail” is a reasonable description. On the other hand, Walmart’s supposed big sale didn’t seem like much either. The only thing I noticed is that they’ve reduced the required order amount for free shipping from $50 to $35. This supposed duel of the titans turned out to be a fizzle.
Not that it really matters. Between Amazon and Walmart we can at reasonable prices get pretty much everything we need other than fresh foods without even leaving the house. I got email the other day from a prepper who said that, other than firearms, he’d managed to buy everything on-line that he needed to equip his family for year and, other than a trip to the LDS Home Storage Center to haul home literally a ton of dry staples in #10 cans and Mylar pouches, about 95% of that came from just Amazon and Walmart. And he could actually have ordered all the LDS HSC stuff on-line as well, albeit at much higher prices to cover shipping.
I’m still building science kits, which’ll be the story of my life until September or October. Just finding enough out-of-the-way places to stack the finished kits awaiting shipping is non-trivial.
The situation in Greece doesn’t bear talking about. The Greek government voted yesterday to give in completely to the Troika, which bought them nothing other than the EU agreeing to open talks about maybe funding another bail-out. The cynicism on both sides is incredible. The Greeks have agreed to everything the EU is demanding, but as usual the Greeks have absolutely no intention of complying. Promise them anything, and then just do what you want. The EU, on the other hand, has no intention of funding yet another large scale bailout. All the EU wants to do is maintain the figleaf that the Greeks are solvent and will repay their debts, neither of which is true. The one inexplicable thing in all this mess is why the Greeks seem so determined to remain in the euro, when it should be obvious to anyone that the only sensible thing to do is leave the euro, default on all of their debts, and return to the drachma.
10:36 – I think the main reason the Greeks haven’t already explicitly defaulted on all of their debts and returned to the drachma is simple fear of the unknown. Oh, I’m sure that wanting the rest of Europe to continue subsidizing their profligacy plays a part, but it must be obvious to anyone that those days are over. Europe is no longer willing to prop up the Greeks as they continue to consume much more than they produce. At this point, simple fear of the unknown must be the major factor.
Being a Viking-American, I forget that many people, perhaps most, are afraid of the unknown. That manifests in many ways, from the trivial–like refusing to try a new food because you might not like it–to the profound, such as refusing to prepare for emergencies because it’s more pleasant just to not think about the possibility. I don’t want to think about it, either, but not thinking about it doesn’t mean it’s not going to happen. And if (when) it happens, I’d rather have thought about it beforehand and taken what steps I can to minimize its impact on Barbara and me, our family, and our friends.