The American Mood

Amid Rising Costs, Financial Strain Becomes America’s Chief Anxiety
AJ Fabino 11 June 2024

Amid Rising Costs, Financial Strain Becomes America's Chief Anxiety

"As high costs for essential goods tighten budgets nationwide, 65% of Americans now identify financial stress as their primary source of anxiety, eclipsing other personal and professional pressures.

Amid economic uncertainty, a MarketWatch survey of 2,000 Americans defined the effects of financial insecurity on personal well-being, with 88% grappling with some degree of financial stress. High prices of goods, a lack of savings and low income were cited as the primary drivers of stress, which has led 44% of Americans to avoid addressing financial problems until they escalate into crises.

Despite the decline in inflation from its 9.1% peak in June 2022, 47% of respondents said that 2024 has been the most financially stressful year of their lives.

The survey, issued last month, found that financial stress impacts both mental and physical health. About 92% of respondents reported experiencing adverse physical effects due to financial insecurity, including loss of sleep, headaches, and weight changes. Additionally, 41% confessed that their finances have severely impacted their mental health, with many developing unhealthy coping mechanisms.

Millennials, in particular, are feeling the pinch more acutely. Burdened by lower wages and high housing costs, they trail older generations in wealth accumulation. The demographic, aged 27 to 42, reports higher levels of stress, with many feeling that their financial struggles have affected their mental health. The sense of financial fatigue is prevalent, with 64% feeling worn out by their financial responsibilities.

About 94% of those surveyed admitted to sacrificing their mental health to maintain financial stability, often at the cost of their social lives and personal interests. Furthermore, about 30% of respondents said they borrow money without a clear plan to repay it, indicating a cycle of debt that can be difficult to break.

The impact of financial stress extends to family and social dynamics. According to the survey, 58% of respondents admitted to hiding their financial stress from loved ones, often leading to feelings of isolation and compounding their anxiety.

Economic conditions like rising interest rates and high housing costs continue to weigh on Americans. In addition to rising prices, almost half of those surveyed pointed to inadequate savings (47%) and low income (46%) as stressors. About 39% of respondents indicated that economic performance contributes to their anxiety, especially as layoffs have reached a 14-month high."

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Lenin is supposed to have said, “The worse things are, the better they are.” It’s another apocryphal quote, but supporters of Trump will not be able to help having that feeling as they read news like this.

The question then becomes, should Trump win the election in November … what should he do about it. (Let’s assume he has a compliant Congress.)

What to do about the border is clear. Build the Wall.

What to do about foreign policy is less clear, but a good heuristic is, ask the neo-cons, then do the opposite.

What to do about the ‘woke’ infection in our educational institutions is complex – we can’t just fire all the indoctrinators. But we can open a multi-front war on them. (Ideas along these lines have been posted elsewhere.)

But what to do about the economy?


Footnote: (I tutor kids in mathematics, and always stress the importance, when looking at non-normal distributions, of knowing both the mean [ ‘average’] and the median [the ‘halfway-point’] , which is what the above graphic is illustrating. I’m a bit skeptical that things are as bad as this graphic claims – does anyone have other data? This link indicates that it is not as bad as shown in the graphic above, but it obscures the reality by aggregating the middle 25% : Distribution of household income U.S. 2022 | Statista )

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Why do you want us to know these statistics, Doug?

Anyway, to answer your question:

Reduce taxes (or better still, abolish them because taxation is theft - find an alternative for government revenue).

Abolish as many regulations on businesses and industries as can be dispensed with - ie. almost all.

Abolish the Fed.

Start reducing benefits and entitlements towards finally ending them. Find an alternative to help the few who cannot help themselves and have no family to help them. I suggest the churches put their massive incomes to that use since they preach charity.

Stop all foreign aid. Foreign expertise and goods can be bought.

Stop all grants to the arts, sports, and academies.

Abolish the Departments of Energy, Education, Environment Protection, the ATF… just to start with.

Empty the FBI, CIA and DoJ and re-man them with decent and qualified persons.

Ethically cleanse the State Department. (Not ethnically.)

Bring all the Pentagon traitors to trial and appoint patriots to command the military under President Donald J. Trump.

That will set the right tone - and completely change the “mood”. A good start to be followed by much more along the same lines to reduce government power, reach, and hubris.

Summing up: Let there be a genuinely free market economy.

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Also - return to the gold standard.

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Okay. We could have a long argument about your proposals, but we should use our time for other things.

I post these statistics ( and other relevant facts) because we should know all we can about what’s happening in America (and the West in general, but America is leading the way in decline, ie in the effects of ‘Wokeism’. )

If anyone reading this would like to join me in doing some research – mainly on getting examples of ‘Woke’ attacks on civilization, I would be very happy to discuss it. There are lots of conservatives who are reachable via Twitter and other social media, but they often have few facts at their disposal. For example, when our side is accused of ‘book banning’ – a common charge from the other side – it’s useful to be able to post examples of just what filth the Left wants to get into the schools: books with explicit illustrations of teenage boys committing fellatio on each other, for example; or books with instructions for finding adult sex sites. I’m not making this up.

Another point, while I’m here. If you would like to get more people registered (and perhaps posting) on this forum, I have some ideas about how that might be accomplished. (In short, by registering on other atheist forums, and ‘raising the conservative banner’ there.

Most atheist forums – and other atheist/agnostic/freethinker sites where you can leave comments) are dominated by liberals. But some of them have a few lonely conservatives (or other type of non-liberal).

We ought to see if we can bring some of them here. I’ve got a list of links to these forums and we could discuss how to do this, and maybe work out a division of labor among those interested in taking part. I don’t want to discuss the actual mechanics publically, however. (Is there a mechanism for private discussions on this forum?)

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Why a private discussion? Say whatever you want to so that everyone can read it.

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I want to give people some advice about how to recruit people to this forum, by being on other forums (and sites which allow comments). You have to assume that this forum is read by hostile elements, and some of the things I want to suggest could be used to discredit us.

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There is no way to post something that can be read by members and at the same time cannot be read by hostile readers.

“Discredit us” in what way? In the opinion of whom?

We are hardly popular as it is. Many atheists dislike us because we are conservatives. Many conservative dislike us because we are atheists.

We criticize columnists, reporters, commenters and other websites freely.

You alone are held responsible for your posts, not the forum. Any member can openly agree or disagree with you.

Feel free to post your ideas and suggestions. The interchange of ideas is what we exist for.

(I delete a post that breaks the law. And I ban anyone who comments only to insult us as a group or individually. But I assume you don’t intend to offend in either of those ways.)

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“Many atheists dislike us because we are conservatives. Many conservative dislike us because we are atheists.”

So true. Sometimes I feel like a man without a country.

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This forum is a safe haven - at least for now, Backwoods.

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This is an interesting essay, with some hard data. The outstanding fact in it, for me, is how many Democratic voters are culturally conservative on the ‘gender transition for minors’ issue. It shows where one of our political foci should be. We can win some of these people away from automatically voting Democratic. In fact, Trump has already begun to do so:

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That Burge guy is a champion bore, Doug.

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