Suicides Among the Unemployed: A National Humiliation

[RamboLiberal]

If you haven't been following Annie Lowrey's stories about chronic joblessness at the Washington Independent, you should. Today she has a story titled, simply, "Death and Joblessness." It is about the apparent spike in suicides occurring in some places scarred by the economic crisis:

So how many suicides are associated with the recession? Nobody knows, not yet. The statistics lag about three years, so the official Center for Disease Control numbers still predate the financial crisis. Right now, therefore, the reports remain anecdotal.

But looking at individual counties' or cities' data, there are ominous signs of a real spike. Some counties show no change. Others show dramatic climbs. In rural Elkhart County, Ind., where the unemployment rate is 13.7 percent, there were nearly 40 percent more suicides in 2009 than in a normal year. In Macomb County, Mich., where the unemployment rate is also 13.7 percent, an average of 81 people per year committed suicide between 1979 and 2006. That climbed to 104 in 2008 and to more than 180 in 2009.

The suicide prevention hotlines also show signs of stress. In Jan. 2007, as the recession started, there were 13,423 calls to the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, a nationwide toll-free hotline. A year later, there were 39,467. In Aug. 2009, the call volume peaked at 57,625.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/harold-pollack/suicides-among-the-unempl_b_684751.html

But let's worry about a mosque a few blocks from Ground Zero.

[Blue Owl]

1. Record-high suicide rates among veterans and the unemployed

Now that sounds like some real national news that would be of concern.

Unless you're a self-absorbed Republican.

[T Wolf]

2. Only the worthless and lazy are unwilling to work, don'tcha know? So it is actually

a good thing that these "people" kill themselves.

The only thing the reich does not like about this is that it would drive down the unemployment rate and possibly force them to offer more for the peon jobs they want to fill.

[tridim]

3. Who will be the first to claim "Obama is killing the unemployed"?

My money (or lack of) is on the filthy treebagger spam brigade.

[Donnachaidh]

5. yeah, let's marginalize the article by wishing for a pissing contest

:wow:

Dismissing the problems have become a knee jerk reaction for some, eh?

[RockaFowler]

4. Thank you for posting this

My husbad just wants a job. He is overly depressed right now. I try to come home and cheer him up. Some days he's good, some days not so good. But yes, let's worry about a community center in NYC.

[Bozita]

6. Macomb County, MI, is considered the birthplace of the "Reagan Democrats"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macomb_County,_Michigan

The county gained fame in the 1980s and '90s as a bellwether of state and national politics. Macomb's large cohort of working-class, socially conservative whites gave it one of the nation's most prominent concentrations of "Reagan Democrats". Outsider candidates with a conservative-populist bent have done well there in the past (e.g. George Wallace in 1968 and Pat Buchanan in 1992).

[ipaint]

7. Suicides and homelessness.

Not everyone has family to offer shelter or money.

In a pay to live country, if there are no jobs many people (as in millions) will end up on the street and some will choose death.

I can't believe our millionaire representatives in washington are ignorant of that fact.

This is a national emergency but wave a hot button issue constantly on the boob tube and the fact that the bottom half of americans are slipping quickly into destitution is easily ignored.

[Rex]

8. I have to admit I thought about it.

At the beginning of this year I found myself 38 and once again unemployed, but after 6 months I finally found work again...I guess I have a purpose now. Sometimes I think being worthless is the same thing as feeling worthless when people won't hire you because you are unemployed, it is like 'what is the point', 'where am I going' and 'why do I care again'?

Sad article and M$M will ignore one more important story so they can talk about nothing all day long.