Spanking Children is Immoral and Ineffective

401(k) Hardship Withdrawals Hit Record High The AI bubble and data center buildout have helped catapult equity markets to new highs (pre-Middle East conflict), minting a record number of 401(k) millionaires. However, beneath the surface, hardship withdrawals from 401(k) plans have also climbed to a record, reinforcing the view that the K-shaped economy is becoming more entrenched. Vanguard's How America Saves 2025 report shows that hardship withdrawal activity "increased to a new high" of 6% in 2025, up from 4.8% in 2024 and about 2% before the pandemic. The increase marks the...

Trump Delays Iran Attack Deadline By Another Ten Days Summary Iran rejects US plan but says diplomacy continues (indirectly, apparently) - White House, Pentagon reviewing options for 'final blow' as Trump tells Iranians 'get serious' about talks. Hegseth: we'll "negotiate through bombs". Trump asserts Iran is begging for a deal. Trump extends energy destruction 'deadline' to 10 days - oil slides & almost immediately rebounds. Trump touts "present" of several tankers allowed by Tehran through Strait, while at the same time warning Tehran of 'no turning back' if it doesn't negotiate. Cabinet meeting hails 'successes'...

We Want One Solution, But One Solution Can't Solve Our Polycrisis Authored by Charles Hugh Smith via Substack, Whatever the problem, our minds seek one solution--preferably a simple one--to escape the trackless wilderness of complex, inter-connected problems. Problem-solving boils down to identifying the key problem and finding a fix that’s easy to understand and straightforward to apply. Our minds rebel when confronted with polycrisis, a knotted mess of inter-connected problems, and so we apply solutions we already have in hand. As I explained in previous Musings, this leads us to modify our...