Suicide
rate in middle-aged Americans soars a shocking 28 percent over ten year period
- Rate among white middle aged people was even higher, up a shocking 40
percent between 1999-2010
- Experts blame the recession and mortgage crisis on the spike in
suicides
- Self-inflicted gun shots by far the most common method
By Ap Reporter
PUBLISHED: 17:05
EST, 2 May 2013 | UPDATED: 17:06 EST, 2 May 2013
The suicide rate in middle-aged Americans
leaped an astonishing 28 percent over the course of only a decade, according to
a government report released Thursday.
Even more shocking is the rate among middle
aged white men and women. Suicides in that group increased an astounding 40
between 1999 and 2010.
Not surprisingly, those years saw the worst
recession in recent memory and the accompanying mortgage crisis, which proved
catastrophic for many.
Meanwhile, rates in younger and older people
held steady. And there was little change among middle-aged blacks, Hispanics
and most other racial and ethnic groups.
ad: Over the course of a decade, suicide
rates in middle aged Americans soared by 28 percent
Why did so many middle-aged whites — that is,
those who are 35 to 64 years old — take their own lives?
One theory suggests the recession caused more
emotional trauma in whites, who tend not to have the same kind of church
support and extended families that blacks and Hispanics do.
The economy was in recession from the end of
2007 until mid-2009. Even well afterward, polls showed most Americans remained
worried about weak hiring, a depressed housing market and other problems.
Pat Smith, violence-prevention program
coordinator for the Michigan Department of Community Health, said the recession
— which hit manufacturing-heavy states particularly hard — may have pushed
already-troubled people over the brink.
Color lines: The rate was even higher, 40
percent, when only white middle aged people were considered
Being unable to find a job or settling for
one with lower pay or prestige could add "that final weight to a whole
chain of events," she said.
Another theory notes that white baby boomers
have always had higher rates of depression and suicide, and that has held true
as they've hit middle age.
During the 1999-2010 period, suicide went
from the eighth leading cause of death among middle-aged Americans to the
fourth, behind cancer, heart disease and accidents.
"Some of us think we're facing an
upsurge as this generation moves into later life," said Dr. Eric Caine, a
suicide researcher at the University of Rochester.
The Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention released the report, which was based on death certificates. People
ages 35 to 64 account for about 57 percent of suicides.
The report contained surprising information
about how middle-aged people kill themselves: During the period studied,
hangings overtook drug overdoses in that age group, becoming the No. 2 manner
of suicide. But guns remained far in the lead and were the instrument of death
in nearly half of all suicides among the middle-aged in 2010.
Recession: Experts say the spike occurred
concurrently with the recession and mortgage crisis
The CDC does not collect gun ownership
statistics and did not attempt to correlate suicide rates with gun ownership.
For the entire U.S. population, there were 38,350 suicides in 2010, making it the nation's 10th leading cause of death, the CDC said.
For the entire U.S. population, there were 38,350 suicides in 2010, making it the nation's 10th leading cause of death, the CDC said.
The overall national suicide rate climbed
from 12 suicides per 100,000 people in 1999 to 14 per 100,000 in 2010, a 15
percent increase.
For the middle-aged, the rate jumped from
about 14 per 100,000 to nearly 18 — a 28 percent increase. Among whites in that
age group, it spiked from about 16 to 22.
Suicide prevention efforts have tended to concentrate
on teenagers and the elderly, but research over the past several years has
begun to focus on the middle-aged. The new CDC report is being called the first
to show how the trend is playing out nationally and to look in depth at the
racial and geographic breakdown.
The suicide rate registered a statistically
significant increase in 39 out of 50 states. The West and the South had the
highest suicide rates. It's not clear why, but one factor may be cultural
differences in willingness to seek help during tough times, said Thomas Simon,
one of the authors of the CDC report.
Also, it may be more difficult to find
counseling and mental health services in certain places, he added.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2318586/Suicide-rate-middle-aged-Americans-soars-shocking-28-percent-year-period.html#ixzz2SByV1sv8
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AMNESTY = Depressed Wages for Americans,
Poverty for Americas and Jobs and Massive Welfare for Illegals… it’s all about
keeping wages depressed!
THE TRAGEDY of LONG-TERM UNEMPLOYMENT
In America, all jobs go to foreign born
that are either imported or permitted to jump our borders!
OBAMA’S AMERICA… soaring poverty for americans,
soaring welfare and jobs for illegals …and then pass-n-tax the looted middle
class for the real cost of all that “cheap” LA RAZA labor!
THE OBAMA – McCAIN
AMNESTY… EXPECTING 100 MILLION MORE LA RAZA LOOTERS… it’s how we will keep
wages depressed!
“But in the last year or so, there have
been signs of an increase, and now a new poll suggests many Mexicans would come
to the U.S. if they had the chance. And many of them would come illegally if
necessary.”
The OBAMA – McCAIN Amnesty Promises NO E-VERIFY enforcement
to Employers and NO BORDER enforcement to LA RAZA invaders.
…isn’t
that what we already have going ????
Dream Act proposals are also a magnet for fraud. Many illegal
immigrants will fraudulently claim they came here as children or that they are
under 30. And the federal government has no way to check whether their claims
are true or not. REP. LAMAR SMITH
"It lets businesses that knowingly
violated the law off the hook," Mr. Krikorian said. "If they were not
withholding payroll taxes, they’re held harmless. If they were violating labor
laws, they’re held harmless. So this is a boon for crooked business."…
MARK KRIKORIAN
“Another force for amnesty is corporate America. Thousands of
businesses have hired illegals in violation of U.S. law. Amnesty for their
illegal workers means, de facto, amnesty for them”… PAT BUCHANAN
ARIZONA
Whose
Country Is This?
Pat Buchanan
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
With
the support of 70 percent of its citizens, Arizona has ordered sheriffs and
police to secure the border and remove illegal aliens, half a million of whom
now reside there.
Arizona
acted because the U.S. government has abdicated its constitutional duty to
protect the states from invasion and refuses to enforce America's immigration
laws.
"We
in Arizona have been more than patient waiting for Washington to act,"
said Gov. Jan Brewer. "But decades of inaction and misguided policy have
created an unacceptable situation."
We
have a crisis in Arizona because we have a failed state in Washington.
What is the response of
Barack Obama, who took an oath to see to it that federal laws are faithfully
executed?
He is siding with the
law-breakers. He is pandering to the ethnic lobbies. He is not berating a
Mexican regime that aids and abets this invasion of the country of which he is
commander in chief. Instead, he attacks the government of Arizona for trying to
fill a gaping hole in law enforcement left by his own dereliction of duty.
He
has denounced Arizona as "misguided." He has called on the Justice
Department to ensure that Arizona's sheriffs and police do not violate anyone's
civil rights. But he has said nothing about the rights of the people of Arizona
who must deal with the costs of having hundreds of thousands of lawbreakers in
their midst.
STEALTH AMNESTY
Is the CIA Investigation the OBAMA – McCAIN Amnesty as
a Surrender of American Sovereignty to Mexico?
http://mexicanoccupation.blogspot.com/2013/04/stealth-amnesty-is-american-cia-now.html
MEXICO
BANKRUPTS CALIFORNIA HOSPITALS - MEX CONSULATES URGE LOOTING OF LEGALS
While
the Obama Administration halts deportations to work on its secret
amnesty
plan, hospitals across the U.S. are getting stuck with the exorbitant tab of
medically treating illegal immigrants and some are finally demanding
compensation from the federal government.
OBAMA
and MEXICO LOOT PRIVATE ENTERPRISE HOSPITALS AND THE AMERICAN PEOPLE FOR “FREE”
HEALTHCARE FOR LA RAZA MEXICANS… What’s left for Americans (Legals)???
Economic downturn cited as suicide
rate jumps for those between 35 and 64
The U.S. Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report said
the annual suicide rate jumped 28.4% from 1999 to 2010.
By Robert
Dominguez / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Published:
Thursday, May 2, 2013, 10:27 PM
The Great Recession may
have been at the root of a great depression that caused suicides to soar among
middle-aged Americans, a government report speculates.
The annual suicide
rate for adults ages 35 to 64 spiked in the past decade, according to a study
from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
And a shaky economy
that nose-dived into the worst financial crisis since the Depression may be the
biggest reason why.
The CDC’s Morbidity
and Mortality Weekly Report said the annual suicide rate jumped 28.4% from
1999-2010.
It was the biggest
increase of any age group, said the CDC, citing “the recent economic downturn”
as one of the “possible contributing factors” for the increase.
“Historically,
suicide rates tend to correlate with business cycles, with higher rates
observed during times of economic hardship,” the report said.
“While the analysis
doesn’t allow us to answer that definitely, a recent study found the economic
recession was strongly associated with suicide among working-age adults,” CDC
researcher Dr. Thomas Simon told the Daily News.
The findings were
hardly a surprise to Dr. Dan Iosifescu, director of mood and anxiety disorders
program at Mount Sinai Hospital.
“Most people who
commit suicide tend to suffer from major depression, and this vulnerability
tends to be brought forth by very stressful situations like losing one’s home
or job,” Iosifescu said.
The social crisis in America
4 May 2013
US stock markets surged Friday to new record highs as Wall Street traders seized on a tepid jobs report to engage in a fresh orgy of speculation.The official line promoted by the Obama administration is that the United States is in the midst of an accelerating economic recovery. For the corporate and financial elite that runs America, and the section of the upper-middle class that hangs on its coattails, a soaring stock market is indeed what defines economic health. For the vast majority of the population, however, life five years after the Wall Street crash of 2008 is dominated by the daily struggle to make ends meet.
Official statistics—of poverty, unemployment, indebtedness, declining wages—give a glimpse of this social reality, which the mass media does its best to obscure.
One sobering statistic that emerged on Thursday points to the social reality that underlies the euphoria on Wall Street. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the past decade has seen a sharp increase in the US suicide rate.
Among those aged 35 to 64, suicides soared nearly 30 percent between 1999 and 2010. More people in the US now kill themselves than die in car accidents. The fundamental cause is no mystery. It is the economic crisis, which has brought with it a rise in unemployment, poverty, malnutrition, illness and homelessness, and all of the personal and family problems that go along with these scourges.
The social crisis affects all sections of the working population—young and old, working and unemployed—of all races, genders and ethnicities.
For millions of older workers, the prospect of economic security and a decent retirement is growing ever more distant as the elderly are forced to dip into their savings and take on ever greater debt just to survive. The debt of Americans aged 65 to 74 is rising faster than that of any other age group, according to Federal Reserve figures. For a typical household led by someone 65 or older, household debt grew by more than 50 percent between 2000 and 2011.
The already insufficient benefits provided by Social Security and Medicare, the federal retirement and health care programs, are being scaled back. Fewer and fewer retirees have a guaranteed pension. Among those that do, many have resorted to borrowing against their pensions and paying usurious interest rates to unscrupulous lenders.
Last week, the New York Times reported that companies that offer pension advances often charge interest rates, after factoring in fees, of between 27 and 106 percent. Older households spent 7.1 percent of their incomes to pay off debt in 2010, up from 4.5 percent three years earlier, according to figures from the Employee Benefit Research Institute.
Earlier this month, Wells Fargo reported that the number of older workers borrowing from their 401(k) retirement accounts—and paying penalties to do so—surged 28 percent at the end of 2012 compared to the same period in 2011.
Conditions are no better at the other end of the age spectrum. Almost 16 million children in the US, or 22 percent, live in families whose income is below the federal poverty line, according to the National Center for Children in Poverty. Last month, the United Nation’s Children’s Fund released a report showing that, among developed countries, the United States ranks 26 out of 29, behind Greece and just above Lithuania, Latvia and Romania, in terms of the percentage of children living in poverty.
Every year, 1.3 million students drop out of high school in the United States, and, according to the National Center for Education Statistics, low-income students fail to graduate at six times the rate of higher-income youth.
Those students who get to college are increasingly saddled with student loans they will never be able to pay off. Between 2003 and 2012, the portion of 25-year-olds with student debt rose from 25 percent to 43 percent.
In the face of unemployment and falling wages, marriage and home ownership are becoming too expensive for many. Home ownership rates are at the lowest level in eighteen years, while the portion of children born out of wedlock has grown from 31 percent in 2005 to 36 percent in 2011, according to Census Bureau figures released this week.
The Census report noted, “Children who are born to unmarried parents are more likely to live in poverty and to have poor developmental outcomes.” In 2010, 42.3 percent of families headed by single females with children were in poverty, according to the Demos Project.
Overall, the current US poverty rate, estimated at 16.1 percent, is the highest since 1965. According to the Census Bureau's supplemental poverty measure, there are a staggering 49.7 million people in the United States who are in poverty. More than 48 percent of the population is poor or “near poor,” meaning they make less than double the official poverty rate.
Nor is poverty confined to the unemployed. According to a report issued last month by the US Census Bureau, the percentage of the population who are “working poor” rose dramatically, from 5.1 percent in 2006 to 7 percent in 2011. One quarter all those in poverty—about 10.4 million people—are working.
The bulk of new jobs are in low-paid service industries, and even manufacturing workers increasingly make as little as $10 an hour—a poverty wage for a family of four.
The effects of poverty are myriad. According to one recent study, 80 million adults in the US, about 43 percent of the total population, did not get medical care sometime in 2012 because they could not afford it. This is up a shocking 17 million since 2003.
Growing poverty and social distress are treated essentially as non-issues by the mass media. According to a recent study by the Pew Research center, the US media focused just one fifth of one percent of its news coverage on the topic of poverty. “In no year did poverty coverage even come close to accounting for as little as one percent of the news hole,” Mark Jurkowitz, the project's associate director, told Harvard’s Nieman Foundation.
In an earlier period, such indices of social distress would have been treated as a national disgrace. Today, far from proposing any measures to address the social crisis, the Republicans and Democrats, with the Obama administration in the lead, vie with each other over how best to slash Social Security, Medicare and other vital social programs.
There is a deep and growing anger directed against the entire social system and a ruling elite that grows rich from the impoverishment of the broad masses of the people. This sentiment can find no expression within the framework of the existing political system.
The critical question in the coming mass struggles against economic oppression is the building of a revolutionary leadership to arm the movement with a conscious socialist and revolutionary program. That means building the Socialist Equality Party and its youth movement, the International Youth and Students for Social Equality.
Andre Damon
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