Money may change everything, as Cyndi Lauper sang. But lack of money definitely ruins everything.
Financial impotence casts a pall of misery. It keeps you up at night and makes you not want to get up in the morning. It forces you to recede from the world. It eats at your sense of self-worth, your confidence, your energy, and, worst of all, your hope. It is ruinous to relationships, turning spouses against each other in tirades of calumny and recrimination, and even children against parents…
Financial insecurity is associated with depression, anxiety, and a loss of personal control that leads to marital difficulties…
My Secret Shame, in The New Yorker
Wouldn’t be surprised if a link is found between this increasing financial struggle, and rising suicide rates in middle class America.