Reading the papers and watching TV, its difficult to argue the future is rosy. Here are 7 reasons to panic:

1. The USA economy is due to crash. If it goes, we all go. Great Depression 2.0 here we come, for real.
2. The EU is going to break up. Aside from triggering chaos in global markets, Europe is SA’s biggest trade partner. This won’t be good for us.
3. North Korea is going to nuke South Korea. Seoul may have Samsung, but it can’t be fun having a psycho inbred dictator with 24million people and nuclear missiles 190km away.
4. Afghanistan will collapse once the USA pulls out. The British pulled out yesterday. The American forces are the only obstacle between the Taliban and government (again).
5. Pakistan will collapse if Afghanistan collapses. Pakistan has nuclear weapons. The Taliban can then shoot missiles at the infidel. Awesome.
6. The earth is warming. The fish are dying. The glaciers are disappearing. Extreme weather is ravaging the planet. No one wants to buy beachfront property.
7. China is taking over the world. If you don’t believe me, read the InterWeb.

But I’m still not panicking. Call it irrational optimism, but here are 7 counter-arguments to the 7 reasons to panic:

1. The USA always survives. Too many people. Too much money. It always proves the naysayers wrong, including Dr Doom. Will it thrive? Probably not for the next decade, especially for the middle class and the poor. But it ain’t crashing anytime soon.
2. The only way the EU will break up is if Germany says, “Zat is enough”. The last time they were bad sports we had the Nuremburg Trials. Not gonna happen, not now, not ever (I hope!).
3. The nutty Kim’s have been threatening nuclear Armageddon for decades. Why is today any different? The safety net is China. Japan, USA, South Korea may have no influence in the bubble of North Korea, but China is heard. And those guys don’t want a radiation cloud floating over Beijing (which is 956km due west of Seoul).
4. Its not just America that doesn’t want the Taliban running the show. Russia, China, India, in fact everyone other than Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and the UAE[1] are opposed to oppression of women, human trafficking and terrorism.
5. See point 4.
6. I remember watching a documentary on the hole in the Ozone layer in the 80’s. And I remember panicking, flooded with visions of wearing blue paint-like cream to ward off the UV rays of the sun. Today, the hole is gone. Honestly, I don’t know how we’re going to save the environment, but somehow things always work out ok in the end. Me, I try not to litter.
7. We will never know the truth about China until it stops censoring and suppressing information. Until that day happens, ignore the papers. Nothing is sustainable unless it has survived being exposed to the light.

Of course, the greatest reason to have hope for the future is that coffee is getting better.