The Daily Feather — A Dismal Hippocrates

In football, it’s a Hail Mary pass. In baseball, the closer is brought in early. In basketball, it’s a half-court shot. And in hockey, it’s pulling the goalie. All of these plays are last-ditch moves, extreme under normal circumstances but appropriate when adverse conditions collide with a clock that’s running out. In the real world, victory doesn’t come easy in sports. As the adage goes, ‘Desperate Times Call for Desperate Measures.’ The expression is said to have originated with the ancient Greek physician Hippocrates. Traditionally referred to as the “Father of Medicine” to honor his lasting contributions to the field, the originally worded phrase appeared in his work, Aphorisms: “For extreme diseases, extreme methods of cure, as to restriction, are most suitable.”

Many Americans would agree that the post-pandemic cost-of-living crisis is the worst in their lifetimes, especially for big-ticket items. The egregious levels of fiscal spending backfired big time. Endless rental eviction moratoriums and foreclosure forbearance encouraged overdevelopment that’s beginning to bite. The Federal Reserve inhaling a third of the mortgage market fanned speculative flames and so depressed mortgage rates that mobility and thereby workforce dynamism have been further impaired. And foregone car repossessions are estimated to have kept 720,000 used cars out of the market, enflaming inflation. The upshot via the University of Michigan is that in the series’ 63-year history, auto and home buying conditions have never been so low for so long.