Six days.

That’s how long it’s been since Hurricane Helene spread her fury across my hometown of Spartanburg, South Carolina.

Here in “Sparkle City,” I and so many other folks and businesses still don’t have power. Moreover, we’ve been told we might not have it until Friday.

I’ve lived here for over three decades now, and we’ve gotten our fair share of storms in that time. I even had a tornado cut through my backyard a couple of years ago, doing significant damage to my deck.

Yet I can honestly say I’ve never seen a storm hit with as much devastation as Helene.

For the record, I am very well aware that we fared so much better than other places. I mentioned Chimney Rock, North Carolina, in yesterday’s piece – a place I remember my mom taking my brother and me as kids.

But I also have to acknowledge places like Asheville, which is a bit northwest of Chimney Rock. Of Helene’s 130+ fatalities reported so far – with some 600 people still missing – a whopping 40 were in the Asheville area.

Whole communities were washed away by floodwaters and mudslides. Roadways are buried or torn apart. Livelihoods are decimated.

Alyssa Hudson, a Black Mountain resident nearby, reported “seeing videos of [their] house posted to Facebook” after she and the rest of the town were evacuated.

Our floors are caved in. Our walls are gone. We had a shed in our backyard that they found two miles away.

The New York Post wrote further that:

When the couple tried to drive into Black Mountain from Asheville, the formerly quaint mountain town had become a veritable warzone – complete with helicopters and uniformed soldiers.

Another resident, Kimberly Scott, noted the same carnage on her trip back. “All along the road, there were downed trees, downed power lines, structures collapsed, cars pushed over, train tracks destroyed, [and] buildings collapsed on the side of the road.”

That’s how powerful Helene was even after being downgraded to a mere tropical storm.

Waiting for the Other Shoe to Drop

Back here in Spartanburg, I decided to travel around as much as I could to see what buildings were impacted.

I wasn’t trying to gawk. It’s the real estate guy in me as well as the citizen still trying to wrap my head around the whole situation.

As I drove, I passed by a few gas stations lined with cars like it was the 1970s oil crisis. People are trying to fill up their tanks, you see, unsure when the power lines will actually be restored.

They say Friday, sure. But there’s no guarantee.

Food is also scarce. The only grocery store open is Publix, and it isn’t selling cold goods like milk or meat.

The lines are long there too.

I’m not trying to depress anyone with these details. But I have to share what I’m seeing… and the gut feeling I’m getting as a result.

While I’m definitely hoping I’m wrong, I can’t shake the idea that the perfect storm hasn’t even hit yet.

I’m not talking about reports of a new tropical storm developing. Though there is, apparently, a 40% chance one could hit Florida next week. And who knows where it would go from there.

What I am talking about is the rising chaos everywhere around us.

I would have hoped that four years after the 2020 shutdowns hit, the world would be a lot more stable than this. Yet it seems as if one thing keeps happening after another after another.

• Economies keep flirting with recession as consumers worry more and more about inflationary pressures on everything from their rent to their food to their insurance.

• The Ukraine War just won’t end.

• Tensions between China and Taiwan aren’t exactly decreasing…

And then there’s the war in the Middle East. Which just expanded again.

I’m Holding On to Cold, Hard Cash

You probably saw yesterday that Iran launched 200 missiles against Israel. That was after Israel conducted a ground operation into Lebanon and killed Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah.

Countries around the world have long-since lined up to take sides in the larger conflict. Most of that support has been with words alone, but that’s how WWI started.

So it isn’t foolish to wonder whether we’re seeing the start of WWIII unfold before us.

Then you have the U.S. with our upcoming elections. One presidential candidate (Trump, of course) has already been shot at once. And there was that second attempt on the golf course just weeks ago.

People are terrified of how the elections will play out, with both sides saying it will be the end of America if the opposing party wins.

Meanwhile, one point (mostly) everyone agrees on is that our economy is struggling. Red Lobster… dollar stores… Big Lots… now CVS (CVS). They’re all downsizing, as are Hooters and Pizza Hut.

And now we have a port workers strike across the East and Gulf Coasts. Those could be resolved this week for all we know. But if they drag out longer, we could see massive supply chain disruptions that have us hoarding toilet paper like it’s 2020 all over again.

Look. I’ll be perfectly honest, I have no idea what to expect in this final quarter of 2024. All I know is this entire decade has brought on one unexpected undesirable event after another.

And I want to be as prepared as possible for whatever may come.

That’s why I’m going to start setting aside some cash.

This isn’t hide-money-under-the-bed kind of cash. I’m not buying a bunker in Hawaii (unlike Mark Zuckerberg) or anything like that.

Nor do I have any plans to sell all my current stock. I like where many of my holdings are positioned, and there are other companies out there I’m very interested in.

However, my gut is telling me there could be more chaos to come in the next few months. In which case, having a bit of cash is hardly a bad idea.

If I’m right – which I hope I’m not – I’ll have something to fall back on as the chaos calms down. And if I’m wrong, I’ll have more money set aside to put into the next best thing when it comes along.

Either way, I’ll come out ahead.

I hope you do too.

Regards,

Brad Thomas
Editor, Wide Moat Daily