Will the stock market bubble collapse? Will human fertility decrease to zero?
Posted: July 13, 2026 Filed under: behavior, cancer, Evolutionary perspective, healing, health, lifestyle, Nutrition/diet | Tags: books, cycles, economics, fertility, financial bubble, sperm count, stocks, technology Leave a comment
“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” – George Santayana (Santayana, 1905)
These two questions may seem totally unrelated, yet they are deeply connected if one takes a long historic view and hypothesizes that present-day trends will continue.
When I drive or commute, I very much enjoy listening to podcasts. They offer an in-depth, nuanced discussions that are missing from today’s soundbite culture. These deep-dive podcasts offer a vital antidote, providing the nuanced, extended discussions necessary for true cognitive synthesis. One of my favorite podcasts is The Diary of a CEO with Steven Bartlett. I found the recent episode, “Billionaire’s WARNING: I’m SELLING. The Crash Is Already Here!”, very eye opening.
The interview was with billionaire investor Jeremy Grantham, the co-founder and long-term investment strategist of GMO. He is also the chairman of the Grantham Foundation for the Preservation of the Environment, and co-author of “The Making of a Permabear: The Perils of Long-term Investing in a Short-term World.”
While economics and financial markets fall outside my primary line of research, I deeply appreciated his long-term perspective—an analysis I find to be entirely spot-on. The actual content offered a masterclass in pattern recognition, forcing me to sit back and critically analyze the macroeconomic shifts happening around us rather than just reacting to the daily noise of the market. He persuaded me that the present AI-driven financial bubble will burst; we simply do not know exactly when. I concur with him that it will occur sooner rather than later. Personally, I would not be surprised if it occurred within the next two years. We must simply be prepared to deal with more challenging times.
What surprised and fascinated me even more were the last 40 minutes of the podcast. Grantham shifted entirely away from the financial markets and applied that same rigorous, analytical thinking to what is truly driving the modern “baby bust” (Dilmaghani et al., 2024).
The scientific data is clear: human fertility—both male and female—has been decreasing each decade. This is starkly indicated by a 50% drop in male sperm counts and a rising number of couples struggling to conceive (Ravitsky & Kimmins, 2019; Mann et al., 2020; Inam, 2025). The culprits as for the increase in cancer rates? Ubiquitous modern disruptions like microplastics, pesticides, and pervasive environmental toxins (NIOSH, 2023; Doroftei et al., 2025; Brander et al., 2026).
Although the prognosis can look bleak, Grantham doesn’t just sound the alarm; he offers realistic strategies. He outlines how to protect yourself from the impending financial bubble collapse, as well as what you and your community can do to minimize toxic exposure and enhance fertility.
I smiled as I listened to the podcast, because his systemic analysis and practical recommendations are very similar to what we described in our just-published book, Cancer reconsidered-Why Environment, lifestyle, and immunity matter more than we thought (Peper et al., 2026).
To prepare yourself for the financial future and optimize your health and fertility, listen to Grantham’s insights on the podcast episode, “Billionaire’s WARNING: I’m SELLING. The Crash Is Already Here!”,
See the following blogs for more detailed information:
References
Brander, S.M., Swan, S.H., Mehinto, A.C., & et al. (2026). Impacts of environmental stressors on fertility and fecundity across taxa, with implications for planetary health. npj Emerging Contaminants, 2, Article 12. https://doi.org/10.1038/s44454-026-00032-6
Dilmaghani, D., Ainsworth, A. J., Nath, K. A., & Garovic, V. D. (2024). Decreasing fertility rate in the United States: Demographics, challenges, and consequences. Mayo Clinic Proceedings, 99(11), 1693–1697. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mayocp.2024.09.004
Doroftei, B., Savuca, A., Cretu, A.-M., Maftei, R., Anton, N., Ilea, C., Doroftei, M., & Puha, B. (2025). Microplastics and human fertility: A comprehensive review of their presence in human samples and reproductive implication. Ecotoxicology and Environmental Safety, 303, Article 118939. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecoenv.2025.118939
Inam, Ö. (2025). Impact of microplastics on female reproductive health: Insights from animal and human experimental studies: A systematic review. Archives of Gynecology and Obstetrics, 312(1), 77–92. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00404-024-07929
Mann, U., Shiff, B., & Patel, P. (2020). Reasons for worldwide decline in male fertility. Current Opinion in Urology, 30(3), 296–301. https://doi.org/10.1097/MOU.0000000000000745
NIOSH. (2023, December 15). About pesticides and reproductive health. National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. https://www.cdc.gov/niosh/reproductive-health/prevention/pesticides.html
Peper, E. Gorter, R. & Faass, N. (2026). Cancer Reconsidered: Why Environment, Lifestyle, and Immunity Matter More Than We Thought. BiofeedbackHealth/Regent Press. https://www.amazon.com/Cancer-Reconsidered-Environment-Lifestyle-Immunity/dp/1587907402/
Ravitsky, V. & Kimmins, S. (2019). The forgotten men: rising rates of male infertility urgently require new approaches for its prevention, diagnosis and treatment. Biol Reprod. 101(5), 872-874. https://doi.org/10.1093/biolre/ioz161
Santayana, G. (1905). The Life of Reason: Vol. 1. Reason in Common Sense. Charles Scribner’s Sons. p. 284. https://www.amazon.com/Reason-Phases-Progress-Introduction-Common/dp/B01DF937WU
Listen to Hidden Brain
Posted: January 31, 2019 Filed under: behavior, emotions, health, Uncategorized | Tags: anthropology, economics, psychology, sociology Leave a comment
Each time when I commute with BART to San Francisco State University, I put on my sound cancelling headphones to block out the screeching sounds of the wheels scrapping against the rails and listen to the superb pod cast, Hidden Brain. This podcast is hosted by NPR social science correspondent Shankar Vedantam and links research from psychology and neurobiology with findings from economics, anthropology, and sociology, among other field
It uses science and storytelling to reveal the unconscious patterns that drive human behavior, and the biases that shape our choices (text adapted from: Hidden Brain.
I continue to be surprised by the remarkable knowledge presented in a storytelling format that is “a conversation about life’s unseen patterns.” As I listen, the commute time disappears and I have a front row seat to an outstanding podcast.
A token raise for some JPMorgan Chase employees: Jamie Dimon earns more in three hours that what his employees earn in a whole year
Posted: July 13, 2016 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: economics, income inequality Leave a comment“How can you live with yourself, Jami Dimon, when you earn more in three hours work than what your employees earn in a whole year?”
From: http://www.123rf.com/stock-photo/poverty.html?mediapopup=17337014
Today in a remarkable New York Times op-ed, “Why We’re Giving Our Employees a Raise,” by Jamie Dimon, chairman and chief executive of JPMorgan Chase, appeared to address the economic inequality. As stated in the op-ed, “Over the next three years, we will raise the minimum pay for 18,000 employees to between $12 and $16.50 an hour for full-time, part-time and new employees, depending on geographic and market factors.
A pay increase is the right thing to do. Wages for many Americans have gone nowhere for too long. Many employees who will receive this increase work as bank tellers and customer service representatives. Above all, it enables more people to begin to share in the rewards of economic growth.”
These words seem to announce a new corporate responsibility and that Wall Street and that the upper 1% have finally recognized that the other 99% are suffering. The facts are different when looking at the actual data. The salary for these 18,000 employees will increase from $10.15 to between $12 and $16.50 an hour, an average increase of 40% to $14.25 per hour over a three year period. Each of these employee works an average of 30 hours a week and their annual salary–assuming that they work 52 weeks a year–will increase from $15,834 to $22,230. This looks like a great raise; however, it does not even cover the average rent for a one bedroom apartment in San Francisco at $3500 per month ($42,000 per year) or in New York at $2700 per month ($32,400 per year). Although it will cover the rent for a one bedroom apartment in Chicago at $1757 per month ($21,084 per year). It would leave $146 for all other expenses incurred during the year.
Although 18,000 employees is a large number, it is only a small percentage of the bank’s 235,000 employees. Do most of the others employees continue to work for poverty wages?
The actual cost to JPMorgan and Chase for this gracious socially responsible raise is slightly more than 115 million dollars ($115,128,000) per year). It will reduce JPMorgan and Chase 24.44 billion dollar profit for 2015 by less than 0.5%. Yes, you read it correctly, the profit last year was 24.4 billion dollars.
All of a sudden, it is not such a generous offer especially since Jamie Dimon received a 35% raise this year–an increase from $20 million to $27 million dollars. This means his annual pay is more than 1200 times that of these lucky employees who will receive a raise. This means he earns in less than three hours what these employee slave for during the whole year. That is obscene!
Thus, do not be taken in by Jamie Dimon’s caring and humanistic op-ed. See it as it is, a self-serving corporate gesture that obscures the actual transfer of wealth from the employees to the top 1%.
What do numbers mean? How much does Walmart’s wage raise affect profits?
Posted: February 22, 2015 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: economics, salaries, stress 1 Comment
Walmart created news when it announced that it will be paying its 500,000 employees more than the minimum wage. The largest increase would be an increase of the entry-level wage from the US minimum $7.25 to $9 an hour; howver, the overall increase in minimal. As Jody Knauss and Mary Bottari point out, The company forecasts the average hourly wage for full-time workers to rise 15 cents an hour, from $12.85 to $13.00, while the average for part-timers will bump up from $9.48 to $10.00 per hour. This will still still leave most of its workers beneath the poverty level and relying on food stamps to make ends meet.
The actual cost of this wage raise for Walmart is one billion dollars. This seems impressive; however, this number is not meaningful without knowing the financial state of the company. The company’s estimated profit for 2014 was $16.36 billion on annual sales of $485 Billion. For more details see the Walmart’s financial summary.
The one billion dollars to increase the salaries is an impressive sound bite, but it only a 6.1% decreases the company’s profits. It will still leave more than 15 billion dollar in profit and more than 150 billion dollar wealth for its owners. Given the profits and wealth, Walmart should be ashamed to keep its employees in poverty. It should offer its employees an actually living wage of at least $15 per hour.
the peper perspective 