BUSINESS

Killer Economy?

The deepening recession may lead to growth in suicide rates.

By Linda Stern | Newsweek Web Exclusive
Jan 14, 2009

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  • Posted By: sgreenboim @ 02/04/2009 5:26:27 PM

    Does the suicide help line pays your mortgage and studet loans for you, or just gives you a useless pep talk about "things changing fot the positive", blah, blah blah...

    • Posted By: TroubledCitizen @ 09/21/2009 9:54:10 PM

      Suicide hot lines will try ad give you a prep talk and if they think you might be a danger to yourself or others they will give you some referral phone numbers to call. If your a male and you call these number you will find out most all qualifications for the programs require that your are either female with or with out children. If somehow you do get int the system you will be treated like your the scum of the earth and either lazy, a scammer, or have a mental/emotional illness. So you might get to the next step and have it determined that you have an emotional or mental illness. That is when things really get ugly. You will lose all your rights as a human being. They can dictate what, when, and how you can do anything in your life. The paperwork/laws/regulations will tell you you have rights but in practice your opinion or will no longer has any weight. If you disagree with a course of action a social worker, doctor, mental health professional, or dshs worker wants to implement for your life you will be dismissed as not thinking clearly and showing a symptom of your disability.

      It is no wonder that men are committing suicide rather then the alternative above. Notice you haven't been hearing about an increase in women committing suicide. That is simply because the "system" has things in place for them where as it doesn't for men. Men are disposable and I have learned that over the last couple years. I will be committing suicide as well because financially I have not alternative. Yes there is a direct correlation between the economic downturn and suicide rates risings. Duh!

  • Posted By: LoveToy @ 01/21/2009 4:28:02 PM

    I agree with AllenCharles. We need to basically stall out the system again by raising interest rates, slowing things down and then bring it back up to speed. We do need to keep our retailers in business though. FollowThatPackage.com offers online discounts to both help the consumer save some money, but it also helps out the business owners who keep these countries running.

  • Posted By: AllenCharles @ 01/19/2009 1:51:44 PM

    The Worldwide DEBT is the problem.

    The best solution for the present economic crisis would be a REBOOT or restart of the entire debt system for the ENTIRE WORLD.

    1. A data base listing ALL DEBT, government, business and personal needs to be created. The list would need to list the debt and debt holder with a bank that could make an accounting of the debt. Included would be all national debt of all nations, all mortgages car notes and credit cards for individuals. All outstanding bond and other debt for corporations, The idea is to list ALL DEBT of any kind owed.

    2 . Every government on the planet would need to call a special secession of its legislature.
    Using the same authority that governments have to use or create FIAT CURRENCY the legislatures and Central Banks need to authorize the creation of ACCOUNT CREDIT in an amount equal to all the listed debts in the world.

    3. The Various governments and Central Banking Systems then need to make a accounting change equal to the debt in the form of an ACCOUNT CREDIT or CREDIT zeroing out ALL THE DEBT in the entire world.

    The following day the economy of the entire world would restart and the Stock Markets of the world would react to the new renewed capital in the banking systems, the Capitol now available to restart all business and the disposable income to the individual people would restart and grow the retail sectors and the manufacturing sectors of the entire world.
    Allen Charles Report
    http://allencharlesreport.blogspot.com/

  • Posted By: blago @ 01/18/2009 10:00:07 PM

    Far, far more people commit suicide annually over the end of a relationship. Does this mean that relationships as we know them are over? You are manipulating statistics to make the story, me thinks. If you beat the data long enough, it will confess...

  • Posted By: TwoSocks @ 01/14/2009 4:10:45 PM

    I know this financial downturn has affected me peronally to be at the point of seriously contemplating suicide. So I know there must me a lot more people reacting the same way. In my 42 years I have never felt so powerless, hopeless, helpless, and digusted with the world and life. I believe statistically history will show an unheard of previously level of suicides during this crisis.

    • Posted By: mursh @ 01/14/2009 5:52:06 PM

      Get some therapy.

      • Posted By: di_xoxo @ 01/18/2009 3:34:16 PM

        It would help if people could actually afford their anti-depressants...

      • Posted By: TwoSocks @ 01/14/2009 9:20:04 PM

        Yes, get therapy. Therapy to learn to desensitize and de-humanize myself to such a point to be able to fully participate in an uncaring dog-eat-dog world. Once I get that foundation I can then participate in the lying, backstabbing, sabotaging, and all the other methods used to stay afloat and excel. The sanest and most caring individuals, the ones that don't fit in, often are told they are the problem and they need to change. I personally believe it should be the other way around.

  • Posted By: t jefferson @ 01/18/2009 11:30:28 AM

    When it affects the rich "people get real concerned and tally up the deaths", but what about all the people that have been through Banruptcy? The workers that lose pension and jobs. How many took their live when a pension was lost? What amazes me is that the rich can never get enough that they even prey on each other.

  • Posted By: t jefferson @ 01/18/2009 11:28:27 AM

    When it affects the rich people get real concerned and tally up the deaths, but what about all the people that have been through Banruptcy the workers that lose pension and jobs. How many took their live when a pension was lost. What amazes me is that the rich can never get enough that they even prey on each other.

  • Posted By: RandyHiggins @ 01/16/2009 11:53:15 AM

    Loss of control is magnified when you control a great deal. The working guy who loses his job may not be able to buy Christmas presents for the kids. The billionaire who loses his portfolio may have to sell his personal jet. I've been unemployed for over 6 months now. I know how painful that is.

    Committing suicide raises the amount of depression and suicide among family and friends dramatically. If you are considering suicide tell someone. Hearing the words come out of your mouth is the best way to escape the thinking that causes the idea to be considered. If you don't have someone you can talk to, call a suicide hotline or a church.

    Re-train, re-educate, restore relationships, don't give up!

  • Posted By: prairiefox @ 01/15/2009 5:37:48 PM

    I am against this bailout! We need to let the greedy lose everything and hopefully watch them take the high dive off a tall building! we are being ripped off by the gas companies, all exploration for oil is stopped so they can drive up the price of gas! and notice the price of food increased when the cost of fuel went so high? notice the prices have not returned to the original price? We need to go bust or take the way of the French when they had enough of their government!

  • Posted By: LynnC @ 01/15/2009 4:31:24 PM

    I went through the .com crash; in fact, I've been laid off twice. It doesn't make it any better, or any easier to deal with. And having to say "I'm unemployed" when people ask what you do for a living is disheartening (don't lie; you aren't pursuing other ventures, or starting your own company, or writing that book...dude, you lost your job. Next!).

  • Posted By: fgrimaldo @ 01/15/2009 12:27:59 PM

    Well the idea of identity and it being representative by our jobs is generationally questionable. I do agree that many do become worried because of the over dependance of lifestyle. But then again suicide is by al large a chmical physiological chemical breakdown. Hum? I wonder what happened during the dot com crash, may be just a change in lifestyle did people better.

  • Posted By: fgrimaldo @ 01/15/2009 12:27:29 PM

    Well the idea of identity and it being representative by our jobs is generationally questionable. I do agree that many do become worried because of the over dependance of lifestyle. But then again suicide is by al large a chmical physiological chemical breakdown. Hum? I wonder what happened during the dot com crash, may be just a change in lifestyle did people better.

  • Posted By: SL78697 @ 01/15/2009 12:24:21 PM

    Asheville 50... that's extremely inappropriate. People can't always help the way they feel. Somethings just take over there lives and they lose sight of the big picture. It's hard for them to realize that things can turn around just as fast as they fell. Ignorant of you wish that on someone. Be constructive, hammering the nail farther in will not help the situation.

  • Posted By: LynnC @ 01/15/2009 11:30:37 AM

    How sad these comments are, and how totally off point!

    it's not about loss of money or status, it's about loss of IDENTITY. For lots of people, myself included, a lot of who we are is defined by what we do. I mean, isn't that one of the first questions you ask someone you've met for the first time in polite conversation?

    To have an employer say, or a spouse say, or a child say that they don't want you anymore can feel like a personal rejection of everything you have tried so hard to work for. It feels like a rejection of you - personally. Maybe if you'd tried harder, maybe if you'd gotten that second degree....

    In the U.S., and throughout my lifetime, we've always defined ourselves by what we do for a living (at least in a social context). To some extent, what we do has become who we are. It's THAT behavior that we need to unlearn, and you do this by having family, friends, and remaining engaged in the community so that you have a LIFE that isn't WORK. Or Money.

  • Posted By: LynnC @ 01/15/2009 11:27:37 AM

    How sad these comments are, and how totally off point!

    it's not about loss of money or status, it's about loss of IDENTITY. For lots of people, myself included, a lot of who we are is defined by what we do. I mean, isn't that one of the first questions you ask someone you've met for the first time in polite conversation?

    To have an employer say, or a spouse say, or a child say that they don't want you anymore can feel like a personal rejection of everything you have tried so hard to work for. It feels like a rejection of you - personally. Maybe if you'd tried harder, maybe if you'd gotten that second degree....

    In the U.S., and throughout my lifetime, we've always defined ourselves by what we do for a living (at least in a social context). To some extent, what we do has become who we are. It's THAT behavior that we need to unlearn, and you do this by having family, friends, and remaining engaged in the community so that you have a LIFE that isn't WORK. Or Money.

  • Posted By: Asheville50 @ 01/15/2009 8:04:15 AM

    Anyone that kills themselves over a monatory loss, the world is better off without.

  • Posted By: lisarae38 @ 01/15/2009 12:28:48 AM

    Gee....Proof that money doesn't buy happiness? Those of us who work so hard, for so little these days have already discovered that true happiness comes from your friends and family who cherish your role in their lives. Just confirmation for me "TAKE NOTHING FOR GRANTED< IT CAN AND OFTEN WILL BE GONE TOMARROW" This Madoff jackass really needs to be in general population in the county jail of his home town. He is an EVIL man who deserves to be made an example of. He should be charged with accessory to murder for his behavior that has driven people to suicide.

  • Posted By: Veriditas @ 01/14/2009 8:29:47 PM

    Someone once said "It takes a village" to raise a child. Expand that further and include all men and women. We need to learn to look out for each other. Ever wonder why there is so much mental illness in the industrialized world? Once we were a tribal species and what happened to one person whithin it happened to everyone else. The impersonal society that we've made nowadays is tough enough, but to risk homelessness out there must be hell. If you start out with "just a loss of money" I wonder how many of us would not go insane and dispondant after being treated like the social pariah that being destitute on the streets of would expose you to and label you with. We all need to start truly caring for each other.

    • Posted By: TwoSocks @ 01/14/2009 9:04:08 PM

      This is an awesome comment! I believe fully what you said.

  • Posted By: cpcath @ 01/14/2009 12:30:28 PM

    no one can read another persons mind, after the fact.
    sorry folks, you haven't ever lost a loved one to suiciide, and I hope and pray you never do.

    • Posted By: mursh @ 01/14/2009 5:46:50 PM

      How do you know we've never lost a loved one to suicide?

  • Posted By: TwoSocks @ 01/14/2009 4:06:28 PM

    I know personally that this financial crisis and mine personally because of it has to be causing more then just myself to seriously contemplate suicide. In my 42 years I have never felt so powerless, hopeless, disinchanted, and disgusted with this world and life. I believe history will show statistically a major increase in suicide during these bleak times.

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