The Paradox of Comfort

It explains our predicament

Today is day 18 of the North Korea Liberty Challenge and before I get started I want to review a couple of items.

The coal sector has been crushing it. Alan Baerlocher has an article out that breaks down some of the highlights in coal and natural gas. It’s a must read.

“The other factor that is playing a roll in this drama is renewable energy sources. Texas is now a case study in renewable power generation when the grid is under duress. When there was an arctic blast that pushed down into Texas earlier this year, wind turbines froze and solar panels under-performed. This pushed energy prices in Texas through the roof. Then during the summer, the opposite played out. There was a heatwave that pushed into Texas. The renewable power generation sources weren’t enough to keep the air conditioners on and energy prices again exploded.

No one wants a repeat of this scenario, so fossil fuel power plants are coming back online. Earlier this year, Texas opened up a new power station that is made up of two units which burn natural gas and generate 993 megawatts of power. This plant is operated by Entergy Corp (ETR) who has several throughout the southeast. I see this playing out across the US and Europe. Renewables are great when times are good, but when the grid is under duress, old and reliable beats new and unreliable every time. This will put the squeeze on prices of natural gas and coal.”

I can't quit you coal

In our challenge, only Buffalo Coal Corporation (FBMCF) is down as of yesterday afternoon.

You have to be weary of the penny stocks. Buffalo Coal is a fun pick for a game like this, but realistically you have bad odds.

• Over the counter stocks have thin volumes and you pay a hefty commission

• Thin volumes mean a wide bid-ask spread

• The bid is the amount currently being offered to buy shares from you

• The ask is the amount currently being offered to sell shares to you

• Often these spreads are double digit percentage points on penny stocks

• That means you are forced to buy at a price 10-20% higher than the current one, which is fine only for gamblers thinking they have the next 3,000% gainer.

• You probably don’t have the next 3,000% gainer…

So in real life, stay away from the penny stocks.

And get your workouts and cold showers in. You’re going to need a lot more of them if you're rolling in the pink sheets.

Ok let’s move on to today’s topic.

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The Paradox of Comfort

One of the things I have been asked by several people lately is, why are so many folks ok with what is happening in the world? Why do so many people simply repeat the same nonsense about covid, masks, vaccines, etc without critically examining any of it?

You can sit down with a well meaning person and ask them basic questions about the vaccines and the disease, and they can’t answer you. Yet, in spite of their obvious ignorance on the subject, they just repeat over and over again what you should do in order to comply with authority.

Why is this?

There are several reasons, but the one that I answer most often is that it comes down to comfort. Comfort, especially psychological comfort, is the enemy of freedom. When you have a comfortable life, you do anything to keep it from being disturbed.

Let’s say you build a room in your house that is your perfect happy place. It has all of your most important keepsakes. It is decorated perfectly. And you can escape to it whenever you need peace. Maybe it’s your man cave or your study room or your meditation room. It’s a comforting place to you. Everything is in its perfect place.

Until one day, a toddler comes waddling in - not your child, of course, but maybe a family friend’s kid - and starts picking everything up and moving stuff around and seeing how this works and that. You know how they are. How do you react? If you tense up, get nervous, start to feel your blood pumping a little faster, you are watching your comfort zone get disturbed.

Modern life is one giant effort to create comfort zones. And you, the freedom lover that wants folks to question authority, are the toddler picking up all their things in their comfort room and putting them in your mouth. It’s highly disturbing to them.

They don’t want to be disturbed. Why do you think support for lockdowns is so high among the wealthy? They can work from home. They can zoom. Their grocery bill barely took a hit relative to their income. Their sacrifice was barely noticeable. The government did not disturb their comfort zone at all.

You did!

You did every time you asked them to look at the data showing an age stratified risk. You did every time you pointed out inconsistencies in the narrative.
You did every time you asked them why you should comply with the latest edict.

You disturbed their comfort zone. And if you want freedom, you better keep doing it.

Do it just like that toddler would. Smile at them and have fun with it. Stick the remote control for their new big screen tv in your mouth. See what happens when you try to stick the expensive knick-knack up your nose.

Their comfort is the enemy of freedom. Disturb it.

Follow me on Twitter @DavidfromLiveB1 and on Gab at gab.com/livebetternow.