Written by Bryan Lutz, Editor at Dollarcollapse.com:
It’s Sunday again. Another day to rest.
Every Sunday morning I send out three thoughts.
Sometimes these thoughts are on the economy, life, or hard assets.
If they’re helpful or hopeful to you, that’s great… Sometimes it just comes down to reality. That’s what I’m interested in…
So, here we go.
Here are three Sunday morning thoughts for you:
1. With all the market chaos, it’s tempting to put more pressure on yourself for performance and achievement. Just have a “positive attitude won’t cut it when you’re burned out.
There’s so much chaos in the markets.
Instead, of being tempted to work harder and longer than everyone else.
At least, that is American story.
Work hard with a positive attitude and you’ll eventually succeed.
But eventually you try to do too much for too many people and you lose yourself.
That’s what happens when you stretch yourself beyond your limits for too long.
Be careful.
Burnout is real.
There has to be more than pushing yourself into higher performance and bigger, better achievements.
Whatever is causing stress and dissatisfaction in your life needs to be reckoned with the reality of your current situation.
Read Charles Hugh Smith’s book on burnout(not an affiliate link) if this speaks to you.
There is meaning beyond work, AND a relentless focus on protecting your wealth…
Meaning which can involve reconnecting with yourself and others.
Honestly, I sought this book as I was going through stress cycles and couldn’t understand why I had such little energy.
You are worth saving yourself.
2. Who will pay for the aging population’s retirement plans in Europe? In the US, Gen X and Millennials are only one generation away from becoming like Europe.
In fact, population is on the decline almost everywhere in the world.
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Look at the largest age groups in Western Europe.
They’re mostly 50 to 80-year-olds.
Soon there will be less people in the workforce, and less people paying taxes.
If not, not enough people to pay taxes right now.
So who will pay for their retirement plans – their social security?
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And, it appears as though the US is only one generation behind Western Europe. Most of the United States population are 30 – 45 years old.
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If you look at the largest parts of government spending in 2023, you’ll see that social security is the biggest growing line item.
Taxpayers spent $1.15 Trillion on social security.
That’s 20% of the budget.
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The entire Keynesian economic model is built on growth, and a sustainable population.
Moreover, with less people in the workforce, who will pay for the wave of retiring Gen Xers and Millennials?
Those generations aren’t stoopid.
I wrote an email a little while ago entitled, “Young and Smart” because many of them are already buying gold.
If you know, you know.
3. This week, the Bank of Japan(BoJ) announced that they don’t plan on anymore rate hikes because the “markets are unstable.” This is saving face. Eventually someone’s going to push some more buttons.
Since the steady decline of the USD/Yen everyone was waiting for the BoJ to do something stupid.
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Last week, that happened.
They raised interest rates 25 bps.
Then their markets started to crash – Japan’s S&P 500 equivalent, the Nikkei 225 dropped 12%.
In response, the BOJ Deputy Governor Shinichi Uchida made an about-face on rate hikes less than 72 hours after.
He said,
“In contrast to the process of policy interest rate hikes in Europe and the United States, Japan’s economy is not in a situation where the bank may fall behind the curve if it does not raise the policy interest rate at a certain pace,” Uchida said. “Therefore, the bank will not raise its policy interest rate when financial and capital markets are unstable.”
He’s just saving face before a drop in interest rates will once again be required.
With about 220% Debt to GDP ratio, Japan’s markets will never be stable.
After the decision was made to end rate hikes, the USD moved up 2% against the Yen.
Eventually someone’s going to push some more buttons…
And it’s not going to be pretty.
