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The United States is a deeply unhappy place.\u00a0 We are a nation that is absolutely consumed by fear, stress, anger and depression.\u00a0 It isn’t just our economy that is falling apart – the very fabric of society is starting to come apart at the seams and it is because of what is happening to us on the inside.\u00a0 The facts and statistics that I am going to share with you in this article are quite startling.\u00a0 They are clear evidence that America is a nation that is an advanced state of decline.\u00a0 We are overwhelmed by fear, stress and anxiety, and much of the time the ways that we choose to deal with those emotions lead to some very self-destructive behaviors.\u00a0 Americans have experienced a standard of living far beyond the wildest dreams of most societies throughout human history, and yet we are an absolutely miserable people.\u00a0 Why is this?\u00a0 Why is America #1 in so many negative categories?\u00a0 Why are we constantly looking for ways to escape the pain of our own lives?\u00a0 Why are our families falling apart?\u00a0 There is vast material wealth all around us.\u00a0 So why can’t we be happy?<\/span><\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n Just look around you.\u00a0 Are most of the people around you teeming with happiness and joy?\u00a0 Sadly, the truth is that most Americans are terribly stressed out.\u00a0 Yeah, many of them may be able to manage to come up with a smile when they greet you, but most of the time they are consumed by internal struggles that are eating away at them like cancer.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n So why is this happening?\u00a0 Is modern life structured in a way that is fundamentally unhealthy?<\/span><\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n Below I have posted a short excerpt from a message that one of Charles Hugh Smith’s readers named Kenneth Daigle recently sent <\/span>to him<\/span><\/a><\/strong>.\u00a0 I think that it does a good job of describing the incredible stress that many people contend with on a daily basis…<\/span><\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n Think about how our culture is now structured for the average adult: STRESS,<\/strong> everywhere you look–commuting in horrible traffic, as you want to scream in frustration–money stress, to pay rent\/house note, tuition, utilities, gas, insurances, vacations, cable bill, rising food costs, and on and on and on–stress from family problems, divorce, delinquency, drugs, crime, infidelity, keeping up with the Jones, etc.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n People have too high an expectation of what they should have out of life, and get overly stressed over it all. How does all of this manifest itself? A prescription drug culture (Zoloft, Xanax, etc.) that tricks people into thinking a pill will knock back the stress, when these drugs, in my opinion, only make things worse.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n I am hearing more and more that people just want to drop out from it all, as they are reaching a breaking point, and have decided less income and dependency on entitlements will reduce their stress, and is not so humiliating, so giving up working becomes more acceptable, to KEEP ONE\u2019S SANITY.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n I know I am correct, from the feedback I hear every day, and the financial media does not see this like I hear it every day. People don’t want to admit that they are too weak to deal with stress, so the financial pundits are not aware of this critical factor because they don’t talk to Joe Sixpack.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n Most Americans live lives of “quiet desperation” that are punctuated by moments of great crisis.\u00a0 We spend our prime years working for others (making them rich) in order to pay off debts that we have foolishly<\/span> accumulated<\/span><\/a><\/strong> (thus making the banks even wealthier).\u00a0 When most Americans reach the end of their lives, they look back and wonder what they actually accomplished.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n James Altucher published an incredible article the other day entitled “Why Do People Hate <\/span><\/span>Their Jobs?<\/span><\/a><\/strong>”\u00a0 It did a great job of describing what life is like for the modern worker in America.\u00a0 The following are a few of the reasons that he says people tend to hate their jobs…<\/span><\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n -Jobs are modern-day slavery. We are paid just enough to live and not more. You are punished if you ask for more.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n *****<\/span><\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n -We are often verbally abused on the job and we take it because we think it\u2019s normal that people would yell at us.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n *****<\/span><\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n -The government gets up to 50% of your paycheck and then 10-20% of that goes to kill people on other parts of the planet, including our own children.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n *****<\/span><\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n -From 7am to 7pm you are either A) going to work, B) at work, or C) coming back from work. Hence, the times when you can be most creative are garbage-compacted into your cubicle.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n *****<\/span><\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n -When you are paranoid at a job, you are probably correct. THEY are, in fact, talking about you and backstabbing you right now.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n *****<\/span><\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n -You realize that all the dollars you spent on degrees to get you a job that will make you happy were completely wasted. You were scammed but you can\u2019t let the next generation know how stupid you were so now you become part of perpetuating the scam.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n *****<\/span><\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n -Your spouse is tired of hearing about your job after six months. And you couldn\u2019t care less about hers. Ten years later you wake up next to a total stranger. 40 years later you die next to one.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n *****<\/span><\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n -When you were a kid you liked to draw, and read, and run, and laugh, and play, and imagine a magical world. You\u2019re never going to do any of that again.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n *****<\/span><\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n -Over time everyone is getting fired and being replaced by younger, cheaper, more temporary, more robotic, versions of you. You see this but are afraid to do anything about it.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n And of course when we get home from work there is even more stress.\u00a0 In America today, we are witnessing a breakdown of the family unlike anything we have ever seen before.\u00a0 The United States leads the world in divorce and in single person households.\u00a0 We are having an increasingly difficult time relating to one another, and many of us drown our sorrows in our addictions.\u00a0 We are addicted to pills, to alcohol, to food, to entertainment, to sex, to gambling, to shopping and to anything else that will make us feel good and forget about our problems for a while.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n The following is a collection of facts and statistics that prove that America is being absolutely consumed by fear, stress, anger and depression…<\/span><\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n -Suicide has now actually surpassed car accidents as <\/span>the number one cause of<\/span> “injury death”<\/span><\/a> i<\/strong>n the United States.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n -More U.S. soldiers killed<\/span> themselves<\/span><\/a><\/strong> than were killed in combat last year.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n -As I mentioned in <\/span>another<\/span> article<\/span><\/a>,<\/strong> Americans will spend more than 280 <\/span>billion dollars<\/span><\/a><\/strong> on prescription drugs during 2013.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n –Nearly one out of <\/span><\/span>every four<\/span><\/a><\/strong> <\/span>women in the United States are taking antidepressants.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n -The percentage of women taking antidepressants in the U.S. <\/span>is <\/span>higher<\/span><\/a><\/strong> than in any other country in the world.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n -In 2010, the average teen in the U.S. was taking <\/span>1.2 central nervous <\/span><\/span>system drugs<\/span><\/a><\/strong>.\u00a0 Those are the kinds of drugs which treat conditions such as ADHD and depression.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n -Children in the United States are <\/span>three times <\/span>more likely<\/span><\/a><\/strong> to be prescribed antidepressants as children in Europe are.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n -According to a recent article by David <\/span>Kupelian<\/span><\/a><\/strong>, “one-third of the nation\u2019s employees suffer chronic <\/span><\/span>debilitating stress<\/span><\/strong>,<\/a> and more than half of all ‘millennials’ (18 to 33 year olds) experience a level of stress <\/span>that keeps them awake at night<\/span><\/strong>,<\/a> including large numbers diagnosed with depression or anxiety disorder.”<\/span><\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n -Tens of millions of Americans use alcohol and drugs to numb the pain that they are experiencing.\u00a0 In the United States today, there are about 28 million<\/strong><\/span> Americans<\/strong><\/span><\/a> with a drinking problem and about <\/strong><\/span>22 million<\/strong><\/span> Americans<\/strong><\/span><\/a> use illegal drugs.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n -More people have been diagnosed with <\/strong><\/span>mental<\/strong><\/span> disorders<\/strong><\/span><\/a> in America than anywhere else on earth.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n -There are also tens of millions of Americans that try to deal with anxiety and stress by eating.\u00a0 Of all the major industrialized nations, America is <\/strong><\/span>the most <\/strong><\/span>obese<\/strong><\/span><\/a>.\u00a0 Mexico is #2.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n