Thoughts from the Frontline

A Dysfunctional Nation

By John Mauldin

June 9, 2012

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A Dysfunctional Nation
One Minute to Midnight?
The Triumph of Hope
A Quadrillion Here, A Quadrillion There
New York, Chicago, Italy, and Singapore

dysfunctional [dɪsˈfʌŋkʃənəl] adj

1. (Medicine) Med (of an organ or part) not functioning normally

2. (especially of a family) characterized by a breakdown of normal or beneficial relationships between members of the group

European leaders launched the euro project in the last century as an experiment to see whether political hope could become economic reality. What they have done is create one of the most dysfunctional economic systems in history. And the distortions inherent in that system are now playing out in an increasingly dysfunctional social order. Today we look at some rather disturbing recent events and wonder about the actual costs of that experiment. What type of "therapy" will be needed to treat the dysfunctional family that Europe has become? And maybe I'll throw in a "fun" item to finish with, so let's get started.

A Dysfunctional Nation

Michael Lewis has documented quite tellingly in Boomerang the dysfunctional country that is Greece – how citizens avoid taxes, how over 600 categories of workers can retire at the age of 50 with full pensions, and how fraud and corruption are endemic. Other stories have surfaced about how few doctors report more than 10,000 euros of income and how few professionals pay their property taxes.

Recently, when the…

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Comments

Dan Blackburn

June 16, 2012, 11:32 a.m.

John—All of the hyperinflationary events in recent history (Germany 1920-1923; Hungary 1945-1946; Serbia 1992-1994 and Zimbabwe 2007-2009) were highly localized events with no corresponding spike in the value of precious metals, at least not on a worldwide basis.  Would high inflation in the US and/or Eurozone have a different impact on metals due to the high volume of trade around the world in Dollars and Euros?

Sincerely,
Dan B.

Nelson Swanberg

June 16, 2012, 8:53 a.m.

“So, the only other way is for the workers of an uncompetitive country to accept lower wages. Since no one thinks they are underpaid, that will happen slowly and painfully and mean a protracted recession or depression.”

This does not make sense the way it is written. I am sure you meant to say overpaid instead of underpaid.

John-Erik Horn

June 13, 2012, 5:51 p.m.

Dear John,
I’ve always loved your articles but this reference to infowars.com is unnecessary. And Alex Jones is not the trustworthy professional you want to be associated with. I do hope that you do not poison your excellent research with sources like that. Reminds me of the alleged “freezing of the BNI bank”. ATMs that do not work anymore etc. Such an intriguing story but FT and WSJ have not picked it up at all. It only circulates on these copycat conspiracy theorist webpages. One couldn’t keep that quiet. Not with all those eyes on Italy!

Please don’t go that route…

Sincerely

J-E Horn

JOSEPH HAGEDORN

June 12, 2012, 11:14 p.m.

Many men after age 40 experience declining testosterone.  Most doctors do not have patients’ testosterone tested or use a low value for normal.  Low testosterone can lead to many health problems, including obesity,osteoporosis,heart problems, cancer, and even poor cholesterol numbers.  A doctor’s web site indicates that testosterone greater than 550 can help eliminate these health problems; along with a Mediterranean diet, no alcohol, little or no meat, 3 oz.of fish or chicken or other protein in a meal, no smoked or other products cooked with high temperatures, and daily one hour or more vigorous exercise. .  Many doctors will not prescribe testosterone replacement therapy, because they believe it may cause prostate cancer.  Others think that prostate cancer occurs when testosterone is low.

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