- What Americans fear more than anything else…
- A real aristocracy…
- One neglected part of Trump’s economic agenda is making certain everyday investors up to $58,000 a year, depending. Want to join them? Well, you need to pay attention to one government meeting on October 29th. Click here for details.
Dear Reader,
Which evil specter do Americans fear most in 2025?
The annual Chapman University Survey of American Fears is out.
A through Z, the survey gauges the prevalent fears that hagride the American people.
From death by electric chair, to protracted visitation by a dreaded mother-in-law, to a pledge of assistance from the United States government… all fears come under consideration.
Yet the American people are beset by a unique hierarchy of specific fears.
Which fear fears us most?
Your Options
Here are your choices:
A): Economic or financial collapse
B): Death or serious illness within the family
C): Cyberterrorism
D): Environmental degradation
E): Corrupt government officials
F): United States involvement in additional overseas war
G): Russian use of nuclear weapons
Again, which of these evils do Americans fear most?
You will have your answer shortly.
Another Gift to Wall Street
First, we briefly direct our attention to another locus of fear — as I see it at least — the Federal Reserve.
Its Federal Open Market Committee, so-called, huddles at Washington this week.
Markets presently give 96.7% odds that it will reduce its target rate by 25 basis points.
The Federal Reserve does not like to confound and befuddle the stock market.
Thus I am extremely confident the wagering market is correct — the Federal Reserve will declare its pinprick 25-basis point reduction on Wednesday.
I do not believe it will budge the United States economy one inch. It may, however, give the stock market a good shove.
Of course the stock market does not require a good shove.
The S&P 500 is within hailing distance of 7,000… and has added some $3 trillion within the past three weeks alone.
Thus a weekend Morningstar headline tickles me: “Are Americans Ignoring Red Flags in the Stock Market?”
To which I respond… “Did the Titanic ignore ice warnings in the North Atlantic?”
Yet let it pass…
Drum Roll…
Let us return instead to our original question:
Which evil specter do Americans fear most in 2025? Here again are your options:
A): Economic or financial collapse
B): Death or serious illness within the family
C): Cyberterrorism
D): Environmental degradation
E): Corrupt government officials
F): United States involvement in additional overseas war
G): Russian use of nuclear weapons
Wrong Answer!
I hazard you likely selected A — economic or financial collapse.
That is because this is a publication that centers upon economic and financial doings.
Yet you would be mistaken.
Americans’ starkest fear in 2025 is not economic or financial collapse… according at least to the annual Chapman University Survey of American Fears.
Nor is Americans’ starkest fear B, C,D, F or G.
Only one option remains. That option is option E — Americans’ starkest fear is fear of corrupt government officials.
Amazing
69.1% of respondents claim they “fear” or “greatly fear” government corruption.
Fear of familial death or serious illness registered second at 58.9%.
Fear of economic or financial collapse, incidentally, came in third at 58.2%.
Reports Chapman University:
- Americans continue to fear corruption in government more than anything else, according to the 11th annual Chapman University Survey of American Fears, released today by Chapman University.
- The nationally representative survey conducted by Wilkinson College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences provides an in-depth look at the most common fears across the country and explores how those anxieties shape daily life, decision-making, and emotional well-being…
- Corrupt government officials topped the list, with 69% of respondents saying they are afraid or very afraid of government corruption. Other leading fears include a loved one becoming seriously ill (58.9%), economic or financial collapse (58.2%), and cyber-terrorism (55.9%).
I’m Skeptical
I concede it at once — I am not half so convinced of the survey’s conclusions. I speak only for myself of course.
I fear economic or financial collapse, death or serious illness, future warfare and 100 other bugaboos before I fear government corruption.
That is because I have always assumed government corruption. It is in the very air that surrounds and envelops us.
And I have been able to endure life’s punishing crucible despite it. As, I imagine, have you.
I simply compare government corruption to cancer, homicides and earthquakes — unfortunate yet inevitable experiences in this tearful vale of sorrow.
That is, government corruption is an unfortunate yet inevitable reality of human experience.
Yet governmental virtue can in fact exist. Government virtue is, in fact, documented.
I refer you to the early Roman Republic. I refer you specifically to the Carthaginian Wars and the Battle of Cannae in 216 B.C.
Historical Perspective
In that war, in that battle, Rome lost 50,000 men to Hannibal’s berserkers in one single day — one single day!
The United States required nearly ten years of warfare to endure similar losses in Vietnam.
And here Rome endured them in a day.
Was it the dregs of Rome that went to their graves that day?
No, largely it was not. It was instead the mainstay of Rome’s elite that went to their graves that day.
Rome’s Senate lost nearly one-third of its members in the Battle of Cannae.
“This suggests,” notes historian Peter Turchin, “that the senatorial aristocracy was more likely to be killed in wars than the average citizen.”
Imagine, in contrast — for one passing moment if you can — a United States senator sacrificing his life on the front lines of heroic battle.
Then return to your sober senses.
I ask you to reflect why 69.1% of Americans most fear government corruption over all other fears.
My answer reduces to the two Romes — the Roman Republic of virtue — and the Roman Empire of power.
Which are we?
Regards,
Brian Maher
for Freedom Financial News
