Tapsearch Com EditorSuicide rate surges in hard times
November 26th 2009 01:10
Wall Street Journal reports surge in suicides during economic crisis
The information below comes from Sara Murray
( sara.murray@wsj.com ) and Betsy McKay ( betsy.mckay@wsj.com)
at the Wall Street Journal.
It reminds me of many things including a Wall Street Journal
article during the Y2k crisis about companies being afraid to hire back computer
workers to fix the problems for fear they would sabotage projects instead of fixing
them. More than a million workers lost their jobs in the computer industry during the 1990s.
Hundreds of computer manufacturers closed down too. About a 1,000 small
computer businesses like mine closed down in just a tri-state area around me.
This was the real cause of the Y2k crisis. Systems were running for years on
automatic without any updating and with programs being patched like old inner tubes
rather than be rewritten. Many thought they would never survive the lost of their jobs.
Reportedly one-third of all who lost their jobs at age 55 or older never found another
one. More than ten years later, I can tell you many stories of survival and how some
lives were even changed for the better. After losing everything materially with many
losing their health, they made it through the hard times one way or another. Some
found relief from the everyday pressures of the corporate world which is a killer in
itself. I know some who realized how good a feeling this could be and that
success and money drive many of us in the wrong ways. Ask yourself if
you really liked your job. Some times freedom can come in surprising ways because
we have a God who works in mysterious ways to grow love in mysterious ways.
The report below will show the bad side of things. They are realities of our hard times.
As a long time advocate for human dignity in the workday , I plead with all who lost
their jobs not to give up. There are new doors to be open. Some doors even lead
to more happiness and not less. I see a vast new world coming with the one size
fits all Globalization and free trade fading away. Free trade and Globalization have
not evolved in any natural economic fashion. It's time to think new thoughts and
reach others with new hope. People like President Obama, President Bush and President Clinton ignore the fact that workers have no voice in the global economic arena.
Governments acted as brokers in all the free trade deals. It was a bubble that
history will correct.
From the Wall Street Journal:
During the Great Depression, there were cartoons of people jumping from windows
during the 1929 stock-market crash. The sucide rate jumped sharply in the following
years. The U.S. suffered 153 suicides per 100,000 people in 1929. It rose to 17 in
1930 and 18.6 in 1932. The reporting did not represent all of the states. The suicide
rate in 1933 in 1933 corresponded with a 25 percent uemployment rate. However,
it is difficult to equate the unemployment rate with the rate today since so many
unemployed workers are missing in action from any kind of real reporting.
In 2007, the suicide rate based on preliminary estimates was 19.8 per
100,000 people.
A survey taken by the federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services
Administration reported that nearly 8.3 million adults had seriously thought
about commiting sucide. Of them 1.1 million, or 0.5 percent of adult Americans
actually attempted suicide.
The rate of sucides tends to grwo with the state's unemployment rate. For
every one percentage point increase in a state's unemployment rate, the
numberof suicides increase 1.3 per cent. ( from a study by Christopher
J. Ruhn, economist from U. of North Carolina who studied the health
effects of recessions.
"What I actually find is there's an effect pretty quickly," Mr. Ruhm said,
"but that effect builds a bit over time."
Hard times alone don't lead most to suicide. About 80 per cent of those
who commit suicide, experts say, depression or substance abuse play
a big part in the act. Hard times adds to the problems.
Recessions, do coincide with an increase in sucides. Data from 19
states find an increase in the rate in the recessionary yearof 2008 from
2007. These states historically account for about half of annual
sucides with calls to sucide hotlines rising.
Official data on suicides in the U.S. lag, and a 2008 national tally
isn't yet available. In 2007, there were 33,185 suicides, according to
preliminary estimates from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention, compared with an average of about 32,800 in the previous
three years.
A Journal survey of the 33 largest states by population found 19 have
data for 2008. In all, those 19 reported a total of 15,335 suicides in
2008, up about 2.3% from the previous year.
Thirteen states, accounting for 30% of the U.S. population, reported
more suicides in 2008. In Florida, for instance, suicides were up 6%, in
Georgia, up 2.3%, and in North Carolina, up 7.8%. In six smaller states,
which account for about 9.5% of the population, the number of suicides
fell.
Suicide and Recession
A Wall Street Journal survey of big states finds more suicides in the
recessionary year of 2008 than in 2007. Suicide rates have historically risen
during tough economic times, when unemployment is high, suicide experts
say.
William Parente, a New York lawyer, killed himself as well as his wife
and two daughters in Towson, Md., in April amid allegations that he was
involved in a Ponzi scheme. "He, through fraudulent transactions,
basically collapsed the savings for several of his clientele," said Cpl.
Michael Hill of the Baltimore County Police Department. "Even though we
cannot say concretely that the cause of some suicides, even with a
background of financial situations, are related to the economy, it is
rare that we normally see this many" suicides that appear to be related
to finances, Cpl. Hill said.
Calls to the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, a government-funded
number (1-800-273-TALK) linked to a network of crisis centers, are on
pace to reach about 630,000 in 2009, according to officials there. That
is up about 15% from last year on top of a 36% increase in 2008 that
Lifeline officials attribute, in part, to a promotion of the hotline by
the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.
"We're hearing from people who might not have sought help before," said
John Draper, project director. Some crisis centers note that financial
problems outpace depression as reasons for the calls, he said. "There's
a lot more anxiety and fear related to paying bills and finding a job.
Certainly there's some hopelessness about the future."
The suicides of two businessmen this year are among those that occurred
against a backdrop of financial strain. Colleagues of David B.
Kellermann, the 41-year-old acting finance chief for mortgage giant
Freddie Mac, said he seemed overwhelmed by his job as he dealt with
investigations into the company's accounting and finances. Thierry Magon
de La Villehuchet, 65, co-founder of an investment firm that lost $1.5
billion in the Bernard Madoff scandal, killed himself in his New York
office in December.
You can write to Sara Murray at sara.murray@wsj.com and Betsy McKay at
betsy.mckay@wsj.com
The information below comes from Sara Murray
( sara.murray@wsj.com ) and Betsy McKay ( betsy.mckay@wsj.com)
at the Wall Street Journal.
It reminds me of many things including a Wall Street Journal
article during the Y2k crisis about companies being afraid to hire back computer
workers to fix the problems for fear they would sabotage projects instead of fixing
them. More than a million workers lost their jobs in the computer industry during the 1990s.
Hundreds of computer manufacturers closed down too. About a 1,000 small
computer businesses like mine closed down in just a tri-state area around me.
This was the real cause of the Y2k crisis. Systems were running for years on
automatic without any updating and with programs being patched like old inner tubes
rather than be rewritten. Many thought they would never survive the lost of their jobs.
Reportedly one-third of all who lost their jobs at age 55 or older never found another
one. More than ten years later, I can tell you many stories of survival and how some
lives were even changed for the better. After losing everything materially with many
losing their health, they made it through the hard times one way or another. Some
found relief from the everyday pressures of the corporate world which is a killer in
itself. I know some who realized how good a feeling this could be and that
success and money drive many of us in the wrong ways. Ask yourself if
you really liked your job. Some times freedom can come in surprising ways because
we have a God who works in mysterious ways to grow love in mysterious ways.
The report below will show the bad side of things. They are realities of our hard times.
As a long time advocate for human dignity in the workday , I plead with all who lost
their jobs not to give up. There are new doors to be open. Some doors even lead
to more happiness and not less. I see a vast new world coming with the one size
fits all Globalization and free trade fading away. Free trade and Globalization have
not evolved in any natural economic fashion. It's time to think new thoughts and
reach others with new hope. People like President Obama, President Bush and President Clinton ignore the fact that workers have no voice in the global economic arena.
Governments acted as brokers in all the free trade deals. It was a bubble that
history will correct.
From the Wall Street Journal:
During the Great Depression, there were cartoons of people jumping from windows
during the 1929 stock-market crash. The sucide rate jumped sharply in the following
years. The U.S. suffered 153 suicides per 100,000 people in 1929. It rose to 17 in
1930 and 18.6 in 1932. The reporting did not represent all of the states. The suicide
rate in 1933 in 1933 corresponded with a 25 percent uemployment rate. However,
it is difficult to equate the unemployment rate with the rate today since so many
unemployed workers are missing in action from any kind of real reporting.
In 2007, the suicide rate based on preliminary estimates was 19.8 per
100,000 people.
A survey taken by the federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services
Administration reported that nearly 8.3 million adults had seriously thought
about commiting sucide. Of them 1.1 million, or 0.5 percent of adult Americans
actually attempted suicide.
The rate of sucides tends to grwo with the state's unemployment rate. For
every one percentage point increase in a state's unemployment rate, the
numberof suicides increase 1.3 per cent. ( from a study by Christopher
J. Ruhn, economist from U. of North Carolina who studied the health
effects of recessions.
"What I actually find is there's an effect pretty quickly," Mr. Ruhm said,
"but that effect builds a bit over time."
Hard times alone don't lead most to suicide. About 80 per cent of those
who commit suicide, experts say, depression or substance abuse play
a big part in the act. Hard times adds to the problems.
Recessions, do coincide with an increase in sucides. Data from 19
states find an increase in the rate in the recessionary yearof 2008 from
2007. These states historically account for about half of annual
sucides with calls to sucide hotlines rising.
Official data on suicides in the U.S. lag, and a 2008 national tally
isn't yet available. In 2007, there were 33,185 suicides, according to
preliminary estimates from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention, compared with an average of about 32,800 in the previous
three years.
A Journal survey of the 33 largest states by population found 19 have
data for 2008. In all, those 19 reported a total of 15,335 suicides in
2008, up about 2.3% from the previous year.
Thirteen states, accounting for 30% of the U.S. population, reported
more suicides in 2008. In Florida, for instance, suicides were up 6%, in
Georgia, up 2.3%, and in North Carolina, up 7.8%. In six smaller states,
which account for about 9.5% of the population, the number of suicides
fell.
Suicide and Recession
A Wall Street Journal survey of big states finds more suicides in the
recessionary year of 2008 than in 2007. Suicide rates have historically risen
during tough economic times, when unemployment is high, suicide experts
say.
William Parente, a New York lawyer, killed himself as well as his wife
and two daughters in Towson, Md., in April amid allegations that he was
involved in a Ponzi scheme. "He, through fraudulent transactions,
basically collapsed the savings for several of his clientele," said Cpl.
Michael Hill of the Baltimore County Police Department. "Even though we
cannot say concretely that the cause of some suicides, even with a
background of financial situations, are related to the economy, it is
rare that we normally see this many" suicides that appear to be related
to finances, Cpl. Hill said.
Calls to the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, a government-funded
number (1-800-273-TALK) linked to a network of crisis centers, are on
pace to reach about 630,000 in 2009, according to officials there. That
is up about 15% from last year on top of a 36% increase in 2008 that
Lifeline officials attribute, in part, to a promotion of the hotline by
the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.
"We're hearing from people who might not have sought help before," said
John Draper, project director. Some crisis centers note that financial
problems outpace depression as reasons for the calls, he said. "There's
a lot more anxiety and fear related to paying bills and finding a job.
Certainly there's some hopelessness about the future."
The suicides of two businessmen this year are among those that occurred
against a backdrop of financial strain. Colleagues of David B.
Kellermann, the 41-year-old acting finance chief for mortgage giant
Freddie Mac, said he seemed overwhelmed by his job as he dealt with
investigations into the company's accounting and finances. Thierry Magon
de La Villehuchet, 65, co-founder of an investment firm that lost $1.5
billion in the Bernard Madoff scandal, killed himself in his New York
office in December.
You can write to Sara Murray at sara.murray@wsj.com and Betsy McKay at
betsy.mckay@wsj.com
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