Welcome to the Hard Times, Men . . .

October 30, 2026

There is a modern fictional aphorism popularized by G. Michael Hopf in his 2016 post-apocalyptic novel “Those Who Remain” which goes like this:

Hard times create strong men. Strong men create good times. Good times create weak men. And, weak men create hard times." — G. Michael Hopf

There’s an absolute shitload of happenings taking place at the moment.

Here’s what we KNOW:

1. We are going to hit Iranian civilian infrastructure HARD and cripple the whole country. They of course know this and have retaliation plans in place.

2. Whatever their retaliation is WILL affect conditions for average Americans, in addition to sending energy prices to the moon.

3. Something is happening globally with AI, with hacks reported seemingly everywhere.

4. The financial markets are giving out, the AI bubble is in the popping process.

Speculating on the exact nature of what is coming for the average American doesn’t really matter.

What matters is determining your level of exposure.

Ask yourself:

Can I heat my home?

Keep my family fed?

Do I have clean water?

Can I generate electricity?

And for how long?

We are a long ways off from “bullets for beans”, but likely on the doorstep of “shortages and uncertainty”.

So take a day (in the next 72 hours) and do nothing but address those issues.

Get your shit together men, welcome to the hard times.