'..my clients find it far easier to talk about sexual problems than money problems. Definitely more shame there..'

‘Few understand the deflationary impacts of the entire gamut of trends that is playing out, or the stress these trends place on families.'

- Mike Shedlock (Context: Affective Introspection)



'..I do find that my clients find it far easier to talk about sexual problems than money problems. Definitely more shame there..'

From Vivian Andrews · Therapist at Heart in Balance Counseling Center

Wonderful article, thoughtfully written and researched. I am watching my kids struggle in the unprotected category as I am one of the semi-protected who can no longer afford to protect my unprotected kids. It is painful. I am a psychologist and really appreciated the insight into shame. I do find that my clients find it far easier to talk about sexual problems than money problems. Definitely more shame there. Thank you so much for your continued sharing of knowledge and personal insights.

John Mauldin: I have to tell you that I read that sentence about the shame of money problems versus sexual problems about seven or eight times, thinking about the implications in the context of our total society. Thank you for this wonderful commentary. I would love to see some research into this topic because I think it might help to explain some of the anxiety of those “living on the edge.”

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From David Ross Brittelli · University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

I have an hypothesis, which I can in no way support through my own economic research, that the problem with the US economy from the demand side is that retirees are getting very low returns on their savings. My retired mother lived very well on the return from 2 year t-bills in the 80s, 90s, and early 2000s, getting an average return of ~5%. Now, we’re getting $7500 per million on these instruments. We’ve had it drummed into us that we live off the interest, DON’T TOUCH THE PRINCIPAL. So we live off our SS, pensions, and the poor return from our bonds. But if these bonds returned what they did in previous decades, we’d spend it all! Instead, we hunker down. The Fed’s ZIRP only inflates the stock market (which, being our principal, we won’t touch), and kills our interest income, the discretionary part of our income, which we’d spend on our kids, grandkids, and stuff. My hypothesis is thus that financial repression is doing a lot more harm than good.

John Mauldin: Your hypothesis is correct. Financial repression is an unintended consequence of Federal Reserve monetary policy; and while the members of the Federal Reserve Board are aware of it, none of them have to actually live under the desperation and reduced lifestyles that their policy requires. Maybe those who think that it is a wise policy to control the price of the most important commodity in the world – interest on the money we have – should have their salaries adjusted to reflect the returns on savings, and let them see how they would actually like to have their lifestyles impacted. They might think twice before cutting rates and keeping them down for so long. Just saying…

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From Merle Wanck · Mansfield University

As one who has attained the three score and ten age, primarily self-employed, I want to thank you for an article that is insightful and profound in giving clarity to our present economic, political, and geopolitical landscape. I share your concerns of unintended consequences from what may be rapid change. Experience has taught me that slow and steady, leaving things a little better off over time, brings about positive change. For that to occur it requires leadership, grounded in principles, exemplified by character. I hope this and other articles of its nature spark an intelligent public debate in the days going forward.

From Virginia Scanlon

With higher than average salaries than in the private market place, with great benefits and pensions, the political class in Washington, DC perch at the top tier of the protected class. In a statist state, they reap the greatest and most secure rewards.

By contrast, more than 200 doctors committed suicide last year, the equivalent of a medical school class. These highly accomplished, hard-working professionals would surely be part of the protected class, one would think. But when the statists cut their reimbursements by up to 30% in 2010 with 45 days notice, many closed their medical practices or declared bankruptcy, losing their capital investment and firing many employees. They couldn’t cover their overhead. This was of no concern to the statists who feed at the public trough. Meanwhile, those doctors had to manage on average $169,000 in medical student debt plus college loans, not to speak of malpractice premiums. Over a 30-year payment amoritization, that medical student debt will cost them more than $400,000. So some doctors retired. Some became employed. And some killed themselves. That is of no concern to the statists.

- John Mauldin, Life on the Edge, Continued, May 28, 2016



Context

(Haptopraxeology) - '..a praxeological framework for medicine..'

Economics as a Science of Human Action - '..the subjective character of the discipline..'