Meanwhile, venereal disease came to be seen as the cause of all manner of social problems, including a perceived crisis in the American family, marked by a falling marriage rate, a declining fertility rate, and concerns about divorce, at least within the middle class.
In a recent working paper, Mitsuru Katagiri of the Bank of Japan and Hideki Konishi and Kozo Ueda of Waseda University distinguish between the ageing caused by a falling birth rate and that brought on by increased longevity.
Countries that managed to grow strongly in the past while cutting budget deficits were often aided by a falling exchange rate or were rewarded by a big drop in borrowing costs.
As in most developed countries, this is being squeezed by a falling birth rate, more early retirement, payments for real and spurious disabilities and too narrow a tax base.
"To take our buses in the middle of the night from people who really need them, that's really bad". Bucking the tide, Idella Ward, a 24-year-old loan officer recently returned to Detroit from the suburbs, said she was encouraged by a falling crime rate and signs of development.
This downward trend has been driven primarily by falling rates of cannabis use, especially by young people.
Meanwhile, fueled by falling rates, mortgage applications soared this week, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.
Meanwhile, older savers' and pensioners' incomes have been squeezed by falling rates and soaring pension costs, leaving them poorer.
The rest is caused by a falling life expectancy and birth rate.
