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A listicle is a click-bait type article where the lazy author lists 5 favorite things or 5 reasons why something something. They are simple to write, easy to read and tend to make an impact. That’s why I’m doing. I’m simple, you’re easy and the impact is necessary. By the way, Chicken Little was a hero misunderstood and a genius unappreciated in his time.
So here is my Chicken Little Listicle. Five triggers that keep me up at night. As I sit down to write this, I don’t even have 5 triggers. However, research says that listicles should have 5 bullet points, so the I’ll tell a fib and say there are ONLY five. But, between you and me, there are 11.
Before I begin my list let me define two words: crisis and trigger. Crisis means a bad thing. Trigger means the thing that causes the thing. So Covid was a trigger that caused the lockdowns. Turns out Covid 19 was the trigger for the lockdowns and the lockdowns were the trigger for everything else. Also, Covid 19 caused a needless deep bear market in bat soup consumption and underserved drop in wet market attendance even though we all knew that the virus came from the lab across the street covertly names the Wuhan Coronavirus Research Laboratory.
So a trigger is a bad thing that causes a crisis that is worse thing. Here are 5 that keep me up at night:
- Trigger: Ukraine Russia Conflict escalates. Crisis: Famines in Crimea and worldwide that dwarf Ethiopian famines of the 1980s.
- Trigger: The destruction of Mariupol. Crisis: A shortage of microchips worldwide.
- Trigger: Chinese social unrest. Crisis: Military action in Taiwan.
- Trigger: Food supply disruption in the US. Heartland Crisis: 1970’s malaise coupled with Occupy Wall Street rage.
- Trigger: Baby Boomers stop borrowing. Crisis: Velocity of money dries up.
My plan is to unpack all of these over the next 5 blogs. In the meantime, enjoy your food, your iPhone, your German sedan and your platinum American Express.
Tick tock.
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