Monetary/Economic Policy & Stress

Ironically, a number of both yoga and massage therapy providers are reporting a recent increase in their business. This, they hear from their existing Students & Clients, is due to increased feelings of stress resulting from what's happening to people's economic and financial situation (yes, there is a big difference), which is deteriorating rapidly for tens of thousands of people in America, and millions world-wide. So people are more highly valuing there DE-stress activities, like yoga and massage or bodywork.

And, since there is not yet any clear sign we've reached a bottom in this current downtrend, these numbers are potentially bound to multiply over the next few years. Even many of the very wealthy are feeling the effects of this series of economic and financial events. Although we can be hopeful the situation will soon turn around for the better, common sense dictates that we prepare just in case it does not.

As explained in the article What Is Inflation?, as the money supply increases (monetary inflation), prices very often tend to go up. At the same time, the value of your income goes down. (It is helpful here to have a very good understanding of the Laws of Supply & Demand.)

As prices go up and the value of your dollars go down, you have to work just a little harder, just a little faster, just to keep up with your previous standard of living. Your body and mind are subjected to just a little more tension and stress to get the job done. Mentally, you might have to take on more responsibilities or liabilities, too. In some cases, you do all this just to keep your job or your business, let alone excel.

Along side this, as you spend more time, resources and energy, you have less available to do the things that you do fro rest, relaxation and rejuvenation. This takes a further toll on your physical and mental self.

So today, as many businesses are cutting back or shutting down, younger people are correctly and increasingly worried about whether they are going to have a job and be able to pay their bills. Some are at the point that they perceive this, at some level, as no less than a survival issue. Or at least, they are worrying a lot.

The older generation sees their retirement portfolios quickly diminishing to the point that their life-long work toward retirement is evaporating. All of a sudden, having spent their children's inheritance does not seem like such a good idea. (On a national level, this is exactly what's been done. In fact, not only has their children's inheritance been spent, but their children are now, at birth, several thousand dollars in debt because of national spending alone.)

In the middle group, 401(k)s are turning into 201(k)s, layoffs of professionals are happening by the tens of thousands, and they don't know what to think. But they sure do regret taking out that second, or even third, mortgage, or buying a house twice the size they really needed in that already too expensive neighborhood. Or that expensive car.

You might think people could just cut back, and some people do. But, because of the human tendency to keep up with the other guy — like the proverbial "The Jones," whom just might be members of one of the special interest groups who benefit from inflation — many of us keep working faster and harder, rather than take a cut in our standard of living.

And there are a great many whom were already living just barely within their means, and really have not much slack with which they can cut back. There are actually places now where people are constructing tent cites, people who had to move out of a foreclosed home or apartment building, sometimes due to no fault of their own. This, having seemingly no options or places to turn besides living in a tent, is even more stressful for most people.

Now, it must be kept in mind that some people can keep getting further ahead because of harder or smarter work, or both. They keep figuring out ways to do more with less, and sometimes even maintain their standard of living. Some people have the knack, intelligence, endurance, or what have you that makes them excel even in the worst of conditions. But these are, unfortunately, a small percentage of the population.

These are also very often the people who provide the jobs for most of the rest of the population, and are often vilified for their success. People losing their jobs or wealth often project and displace their fear and anger onto those who deserve it least. (And no, MOST of the so-called rich are NOT a part of that special interest cadre who keep getting special privileges, lots of money, and bailed out when they screw up.)

Now, what do you think happens to the stress levels in mind and body as we have to work just a little harder, just a little faster, just to keep up? … Of people who are feeling fear, rage, envy, and all the other possible emotions when your very livelihood is at stake?

And this increases incrementally over the months and years. And then, if history is any indicator, we have several strong examples that all of a sudden, one day, this government induced inflationary trend could gradually and then rapidly take off like a rocket, into hyper-inflation, and everyone will be struggling just to buy a loaf of bread — even most of whom we call The Rich. … This has happened in places like Germany, Argentina, Bolivia, and most recently Zimbabwe. … It truly becomes a matter of survival.

This threat of hyper-inflation is NO exaggeration. … AT ALL.

In the next article, we'll talk about what inflation is, and is not, so you can explain it more accurately to your Student & Clients. The hope is, of course, that knowing more about it will help relieve some the associated physical and mental tension and stress. For a lot of people, even if they cannot single-handedly solve a problem, taking some sort of effective action can help channel their energy more productively.

What action can they take? That's another article in this series.