Today’s Big Story

Doom Spending

Americans are feeling anxious, so they’re whipping out the credit cards and cash

Finances are on the mind of most Americans these days. Fed up with high prices and unimpressed with an economy that by just about any measure is a healthy one, the majority of voters demanded change when they cast a ballot for Donald Trump. The President-Elect has vowed to restore the low prices and economic stability they recall from his first term—at least until the COVID-19 recession of 2020 paralyzed the economy and then a powerful recovery sent inflation soaring.

Inflation has since plummeted and is nearly back to normal. Yet Americans are frustrated over still-high prices. But that’s not necessarily stopping them from buying stuff. Of course, people deal with the horrors of an extremely close, high-stakes presidential election (not to mention a laundry list of other current global concerns) in many different ways: Work, exercise, booze. But another method of self-soothing has recently been on the rise. However, this one comes with a nasty financial hangover.

According to a study conducted in late-October by Qualtrics on behalf of Intuit Credit Karma, 27% of Americans are “doom spending”—i.e. going shopping in order to cope, paradoxically, with economic fears—and 40% of them say they doom-spend more now than they did last year. Considering that over a quarter of those surveyed blame their worries about the state of the world and the economy on the presidential election, it seems as if all the debates, polls, and apocalyptic fundraising text messages might be inspiring rampant retail therapy some folks can ill-afford.

“Many Americans spend money as a coping mechanism when they’re feeling emotionally charged—whether they’re looking to relieve stress, want to get their mind off something, want that dopamine hit, or want to feel in control of something,” one financial analyst told Fast Company. And according to a recent annual survey conducted by the American Psychological Association, seven out of 10 adults say the future of the nation is currently a significant source of stress in their lives.

I’m sure you’ve seen it popping up everywhere you turn, from YouTube and TikTok videos to Reddit and personal finance articles. Interestingly, Gen Z and millennial consumers are also more likely to say it’s better to treat themselves now rather than hold off for a future “that feels like it could change at any moment.” Of course, I’m no stranger to “buying myself a little happy,” experts warn that while this kind of catharsis might work to temporarily allay worries, regular doom spending poses serious danger to consumers’ long-term financial health.

Extreme Weather Has Cost $2 Trillion in 10 years

The U.S. suffered the greatest economic losses, a new report finds

Speaking of money, all this extreme weather is more expensive than we realized. The recent surge in violent weather cost the world $2 trillion over the past decade, a report has found. The data comes as diplomats descend on the United Nations Cop29 climate summit today for a tense fight over finance.

The analysis of 4,000 climate-related extreme weather events, from flash floods that wash away homes in an instant to slow-burning droughts that ruin farms over years, found economic damages hit $451 billion across the past two years alone. That's a 19% rise compared to the previous eight years of the decade, according to the researchers. The Guardian reports that the figures reflect the full cost of extreme weather rather than the share scientists can attribute to climate breakdown.

According to Axios, the U.S. had the greatest economic losses over the period from 2014-2023 ($934.7 billion), followed by China at $267.9 billion and India ($112 billion). Of course, they point out, that per capita, the French part of the small island of Saint Martin incurred the greatest cost: $5.1 million in total, but the average cost per person was $158,886. And U.S territory Puerto Rico—which has yet to fully recover from 2017's devastating Hurricane Maria—was fifth on the worst-affected nations per capita.

Strokes Are Becoming More Common

Especially among young people. Here’s how to prevent them.

An alarming trend is raising concerns in the medical community, highlighting a significant health risk for younger people: strokes. The rate of young people having strokes has increased, according to a recent CDC report. The CDC found that, compared to rates from about a decade ago, the risk of stroke has increased by about 15% among Americans younger than 65. Researchers pointed to more young people having obesity and hypertension as a reason for rising numbers.

The Associated Press reports that strokes are now the fourth leading cause of death in the U.S. in 2023, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and more than half a million Americans have a stroke every year. But up to 80% of strokes may be preventable with better nutrition, exercise and identification of risk factors—which, also happens to be the best way to reduce your risk for a whole host of health problems.

The bad news is that it’s not always so easy to sustain. Dr. Sean Duke, a stroke doctor at the University of Mississippi Medical Center, tells the AP that he blames the forces in society that keep people sedentary and eating poorly, like cell phones and cheap, unhealthy food. “Our world is stacked against us,” he said.

Save Your Seats

Hackers are stealing tickets from Ticketmaster customers' accounts

As if it wasn’t already difficult to secure tickets to your favorite shows via Ticketmaster. Now, even if you win the lottery and score some good seats, you could have those tickets digitally ripped from your Ticketmaster account. So if you haven’t changed the password on your account recently, you probably want to do that immediately.

Business Insider reported about a string of customers checking their emails only to discover that someone had broken into their Ticketmaster accounts and transferred their tickets away. Most were eventually able to get tickets returned by Ticketmaster’s customer support. Others haven’t been so lucky: Some who had their tickets stolen only discovered they’d been swiped once they got to the gate. Reddit, similarly, is home to many complaints from users saying similar things had happened to them.

Ticketmaster won't say how many people have had their tickets stolen. But, according to CBS News, accounts of ticket theft have rippled throughout social media over the past month. Ticket scalping is big business these days, so it’s no surprise to Gizmodo that Ticketmaster accounts are of high value. But, they point out, that’s the problem with one provider controlling a majority of all concert venues' ticketing.

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