It's no secret that most Americans wish to turn back the clock to the days of wine and roses. Instead, we’re stuck with Bidenomics – and 47% of US adults are deeply concerned about their financial security. Side effects include chronic anxiety, severe panic attacks, insomnia, and worrying thoughts. And, frankly, the Biden administration is complicit.
It isn’t the big-ticket purchases that have bank accounts depleted so much as the day-to-day necessities like food, housing, and phones – and the lack of any savings to act as a safety net in uncertain times is wreaking havoc on the psyche. A record number of Americans – more than 50,000 – committed suicide in 2023.
This is not to say that Joe Biden created the connection between money and mental health: The pandemic, of course, caused plenty of issues with isolation, loss of income, and fear of the virus. But Bidenomics continues to exacerbate that pain years later with no end in sight.
Breaking Biden
Bankrate's latest Money and Mental Health Survey shows 65% of US adults cite inflation and/or rising prices as a serious concern. Liberty Nation's own economics editor, Andrew Moran, connects the dots:
"It is not surprising that the American people are depressed. Economic conditions have not been great since January 2021. The cost of living has soared nearly 20%, real (inflation-adjusted) average hourly wage growth has been negative throughout Biden's entire presidency, more household debt is transitioning to some stage of delinquency, the dollar has lost 18% of its value, and millions of Americans are working two or more jobs to stay afloat. What is there to be happy about? Why do you think more people are participating in so-called doom spending? They don't have any hope for the future."
Here's where the generations differ: Gen X is in a panic, realizing retirement could be pushed, savings accounts are disappearing, and disposable incomes are not allowing for a treat here and there. Boomers are more worried about their health than money, but some have found themselves finding part-time jobs in retirement to make ends meet. Millennials can't afford the fast food they were raised on, with what was once a $2 hamburger now costing $8.50. Good luck buying that first house with these interest rates; many remain basement-bound. Gen Z is "dealing with it," but mostly out of ignorance of economics.
Financial insecurity and mental health are interconnected, and nearly half of Americans are suffering daily. Still, with grit, gratitude, guts, and a lot of humor, this country will muddle through. Americans are tough and, sometimes, a bit ironic when handling calamities. After the 1929 stock market crash, and down to a scant four pennies in his pocket, Wellington Lytle left the following suicide note in his Milwaukee hotel room: "My body should go to science, my soul to [Secretary of Treasury] Andrew W. Mellon, and sympathy to my creditors."
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