And The Band Played On. . .



In the still of the night, events are occurring that will change lives forever. A ship bound for the future leaving from the Port of Hope, has struck an iceberg and is quietly taking on thousands of gallons of water per minute, yet everything is calm. In the ships bridge, the captain nervously fingers through the ships manual, searching for a solution that doesnt exist. Even though there is imminent danger, the order is given to the crew: Remain calm, straighten the decks, smile and tip your cap to the passengers. On the top deck, passengers unaware of current events listen passively as the band plays on. The band performs all the same tunes from the past, masking the up and coming moments of urgency and peril. Meanwhile, fifty feet below, structural flaws in the ship only compound the problem. Designers of the ship never expected this type of crisis, and the band plays on.

The captain now faces another decision. Should he prepare the passengers for the coming event, or hold out for the hope of a rescue? His training, experience and pride have never exposed him to this type of problem. His choices are limited, as is his knowledge of such a crisis. He chooses to delay his decision, and orders the band to play on.

After an hour, it begins to become apparent even to the passengers that something is not right, even though they are being told that everything is normal. A woman notices that the wine in her glass leans to one side. A man realizes that ship has slowed to a snails pace. Passengers begin to mumble amongst themselves about events that surround them, yet the band plays on.

The eerie part is that you and I are on the deck of this ship. We are caught playing a dangerous game, casually believing none of these events will affect us. Yet no one will deny, from the designers of the ship, to the captain and the crew, that we have entered into a dangerous time. The only thing I am certain of is that the band will play on.


Victims of the Iceberg

As I stand next to you on the deck of this ship, it is the common thought of the common man to believe that all of this is the fault of the iceberg. It will be believed that the sudden impact of the ship and the iceberg caused this terrible fate. When in all reality, 90% of all the problems on this night were created long before these two large objects touched. From the design of the ship, to the course that was charted, to the training of the crew, to the leadership of the captain, the iceberg only accelerated the problems that were already there. No one had prepared for this event. NO ONE. We are all destined for the same fate if we dont prepare differently. If you dont want to prepare, then simply lean back and enjoy the music, as the band plays on


You Cant Be Aware of Something
Youre Not Aware of


Many of us share the fate of the captain of the ship. Had he been made aware of the dangers that icebergs existed in the area of the ship, he would have prepared differently. If he had the knowledge and information beforehand, the outcome could have been avoided. Without this information, the choices and options of the captain were limited. As a result, we are all left standing at the ships railing watching the water rise with only one option and its not a very good one. Where are the lifeboats, if there are any? Circumstances have forced us into this decision under duress.

Many of lifes decisions are resolved in the same manner. There are a limited number of solutions simply because we are not aware of any others. When your options and knowledge are limited, outcomes are predictable, and the band plays on.



Survivability

If you could predict accurately what was going to happen in the next 3000 days, do you believe having that information would help you make better decisions? Im not talking about guessing football scores, Im talking about following a natural course of events using common sense and knowledge, to come to a conclusion that certain events could, will and are going to happen. You dont have to be a genius to figure this out.

If you earned $50,000.00 a year but every year you spent $55,000.00, it would be fairly easy to predict that you will be in debt and financial trouble. Even more troubling is the fact that according to the Daily Reckoning, last year the United States had recorded an overall credit expansion of $2,718.6 billion versus virtually zero increase in national saving.1 From a common sense approach, one could come to the conclusion that the relationship between credit and collapsing savings is and will be a major problem for everyone in the near future. Alan Greenspan once asked a question, How do we know when irrational exuberance has unduly escalated asset values which then become subject to unexpected and prolonged contractions?2 Currently, Americans are holding on to about $40 trillion in debt. This amount of debt is more than three time the total number of dollars in existence anywhere. As a country, we have hit the iceberg, were taking on water, and the band plays on.

1 http://www.dailyreckoning.com
2 Remarks by Alan Greenspan, Saving for Retirement, at the 2002 National Summit of Retirement Savings, Department of Labor, Washington, D.C., February 28, 2002.