When Thanos Snapped

What happens when multiple pillars of society collapse at the same time?

According to the PBS library: “Charles Darwin understood that evolution was a slow and gradual process. But in 1972, evolutionary scientists Stephen Jay Gould and Niles Eldredge proposed another explanation, which they called “punctuated equilibrium.” That is, species are generally stable, changing little for millions of years. This leisurely pace is “punctuated” by a rapid burst of change that results in a new species.”

For the last ten years, up until the end of 2019, life in the rich world was going along fine for the most part. American adults expected to meet their household budget and keep their jobs. The stock market expected to grow about 1% every month. American kids expected to attend college. People expected to stay healthy by eating enough food and medicine.

This is not to say people became complacent. Our species – the Sapien – is hard wired to be alert and suspicious. In his bestseller book, Sapiens, Yuval Noah Harari argues that our species became the dominant species in relatively short time. Our brains didn’t have a long time to evolve and get used to being untouchable. The result is a rather nervous ruler of earth, like a usurper.

Nevertheless, while everything remained in working order — as with the longest economic expansion on record — there was no reason to change anything about our thinking and behavior. With another 5,000 years of this our ability to endure hardship might have been lost or misplaced. We might have become relaxed.

Then Thanos happened.

To be safe we stayed in shelter at home, and most economic activity stopped. To illustrate, last year movie theaters made on average $217.1 million per week. Last week they made $5,000.

The implications of a total shutdown will include but not be limited to bankruptcy of households and businesses, inability to pay interest on loans, retailers not reopening, leases breaking, vacant commercial properties, offices closing, employees being asked to continue working from home and other frugal measures; restaurants in cities closing and shops next to train stations closing; hotels shutting down rather than maintain the facilities, these service workers going on unemployment; everyone tightening their belt, vacations getting postponed, tourism taking a big hit, and concerts and stadium sporting events getting cancelled.

When everything changes, the ones who are strong and lucky can adapt. The ones who can move to higher ground can subsist in lower cost regions. The kids with an attention span who make an effort can succeed at home school. People who know how to cook from scratch can more easily obtain and prepare food. People who can grow staple foods can eat.

Maybe it won’t be that bad. The original view was the pandemic would take 3–6 months. Then why did the government and the Fed take out the kitchen sink?