Very interesting article by the FT about some research into mortality rates among working class whites.
It's the FT, so it's behind a paywall, but key points:
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FT: 'Deaths of despair surge among US white working class
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Very interesting article by the FT about some research into mortality rates among working class whites.
It's the FT, so it's behind a paywall, but key points:
hydrophilic attack
Member
the US needs to fix its educational system
Al-ibn Kermit
Junior Member
Before if you were white and just had a high school degree, you could still get a good job. Now it's all different and you have 50 year old dudes reporting to somebody half their age.
The question is what do you do to fix this?
The question is what do you do to fix this?
FunkyMunkey
Banned
until those 50 year old dudes stop voting republican it won't be fixed
dave is ok
aztek is ok
Complete lack of affordable education, affordable housing and affordable healthcare
But opioids are affordable.
But opioids are affordable.
This. Its rankings keep sinking further and further. For all that is said for the world class universities in the US, a lot of their staff and students have to be imported from other countries. High Schools are just not producing results that feed higher education.
hydrophilic attack
Member
free education so that those people can get a degree if they no longer want to report to someone half their age
D
Deleted member 17706
Unconfirmed Member
Better access to education would be a good start for the future.
NOLA_Gaffer
Banned
The world sucks right now on just about all fronts and is only getting worse. I'm not suicidal, but I can imagine how folks that are already on the edge would be.
We know what to do, but the successful use of racism as a wedge tactic by the rich prevents us from enacting left wing policies.
Stumpokapow
listen to the mad man
I am pretty suspicious at the attempt to draw a public health problem into the broader narrative about the economic decline of blue collar America. It's not that they are not connected at their root, but the recent surge in heroin isn't coming from a recent collapse in economic fortunes, it's coming from the public health side. And I think it's probably better if politicians don't think that miracle plans to bring back da jobs will solve the public health side.
j_k_redtail
Member
1 - FYI (because I always forget) those of you who are behind a University firewall might be able to access the article through your university library.
2 - For the rest of us there's a free Bloomberg article out today which makes similar points; probably a follow up from the 2015 study
2 - For the rest of us there's a free Bloomberg article out today which makes similar points; probably a follow up from the 2015 study
andthebeatgoeson
Junior Member
This is what i think of when i say things have to get worse before they get better. You want the country to do better but only pain and suffering can accomplish that. It's walking this thin line of wanting better and wanting the painful parts to just be over.
I want justice reform and police reform but that'll only happen when white people become affected by police brutality. I want a better, healthier middle class but we have to suffer with more people dying, in the majority population, before we get to the root of it.
At the heart of this is racism. An ability to ignore crack heads but feel bad for people on pills. The entire country laughed at crack heads. All of us. We've have movies and songs about them. Even Dave Chappelle had a popular character about a crack head and we never treated the source of what makes people want to go away on a drug fueled surge.
People are hurting and their lives are not living up to a standard we made and they drink or pop pills or inject to feel better. And we laughed.
I want justice reform and police reform but that'll only happen when white people become affected by police brutality. I want a better, healthier middle class but we have to suffer with more people dying, in the majority population, before we get to the root of it.
At the heart of this is racism. An ability to ignore crack heads but feel bad for people on pills. The entire country laughed at crack heads. All of us. We've have movies and songs about them. Even Dave Chappelle had a popular character about a crack head and we never treated the source of what makes people want to go away on a drug fueled surge.
People are hurting and their lives are not living up to a standard we made and they drink or pop pills or inject to feel better. And we laughed.
Bonen no Max'd
Banned
Are you a federal job guarantee type of person?
hydrophilic attack
Member
on average the world is getting better (huge advancements in asia and africa)
the usa in particular is stagnating due to conservative extremists doing everything in their power to kill government over the last 30 years
Cheers, will add to OP!
I can see the pros and cons of it. People often feel like they need to work because of our societal ideology and it's probably an easier sell than basic income. But at the same time it would probably lead to an awful lot of redundant soul-killing jobs, and we ought to be moving away from jobs rather than embracing them even more. Plus we want to avoid a Soviet style "work is both a right and a duty, so be a street sweeper or go to jail" sort of thing.
But if someone wanted work and couldn't find anything else that met their needs? It's the better alternative than letting them suffer. Plus there genuinely is a lot of work that needs to be done like in infrastructure.
Al Franken has said it used to be you had to have a plan to fail. That isn't the case anymore.
It's easier to keep power by limiting those beneath you than to try and stay ahead. Those at the top have no interest in providing tools needed by their competition. Best to keep things like food, shelter, healthcare and education as a privilege rather than a right. This is the price of capitalism, life is a competition not a joint effort.
Wolfgunblood Garopa
Member
I'll lay some of this at the feet of the conservative entertainment complex. Fox News et al are really and truly fucking people's minds.
gutter_trash
Banned
education,
universal healthcare
universal healthcare
Lord Fagan
Junior Member
The line showing college graduate suicides in the first graph doesn't indicate that at all. Things could change, sure, but I think you mean to say men with some college education who don't matriculate. That's the new under achiever, the one silly enough to get a mortgage worth of student loans without a house to live in, and can't find work beyond the complexity of a cash register.
Guy who finishes in seven years may not be the cream of the crop, but he did the damn job.
Ziltoidia 9
Member
Not only that, but they hear from the same people that if you arn't doing well, you just arn't working hard enough. And these people bust their asses at jobs, so I completely see how it is despair.
I liked Tim Wise's commentary on this.
what have you got against ellipses?
edit: you edited....but the...question remains.
I liked Tim Wise's commentary on this.
And then what?
It's more than education system. There has been a break down of the social order in white working class communities which makes it hard for white people from a certain class to make it out of even high school.
This is so true.
Great piece but these people were betrayed by their leaders and sold down the river. They're dumber and poorer because of Republican policies by and large. That's not to excuse racism and self destructive behavior but it does partially explain it.I liked Tim Wise's commentary on this.
Since before it's creation being white in this country was like playing angry birds,.
Since before it's creation being POC in this country was like playing Bloodborne with a shorting out dualshock
Except from Native Americans, being them was like getting the first xbox 360s off the assembly line.
Am i saying all white people have it in easy mode, no
Am I saying all POC are doing their own version of Good Times, no.
But systemically the game was rigged, but now it is broken.
But the thing is the WWC has the power to change this, they have always had the power to change it. But they keep shooting themselves in the foot.
They were happy shouting "Build the Wall" while a man told them straight to their face he was going to kill them.
Since before it's creation being POC in this country was like playing Bloodborne with a shorting out dualshock
Except from Native Americans, being them was like getting the first xbox 360s off the assembly line.
Am i saying all white people have it in easy mode, no
Am I saying all POC are doing their own version of Good Times, no.
But systemically the game was rigged, but now it is broken.
But the thing is the WWC has the power to change this, they have always had the power to change it. But they keep shooting themselves in the foot.
They were happy shouting "Build the Wall" while a man told them straight to their face he was going to kill them.
Pretty much.
Its a nasty cycle and its just how republicans want it. Keep them susceptible to shit like Fox News and Breitbart and keep them stupid.
I pray the next democrat administration pushes the hell out of education. This last election feels like we need it now more than ever if people are dumb enough to fall for Trump.
Demoskinos
Member
bout where I'm at. Not suicidal but don't think I have much hope for the future tbh.
Np doubt 25% of voters chose hate over common sense or were conned by an obvious scam.
Arkage
Banned
I liked Tim Wise's commentary on this.
Pretty bold to claim to have the "only logical answer" to the question of why suicide rates are increasing. It kind of completely ignores the geo-economic realities that rural America in particular is facing. When whole towns were built up around the creation of one or two factories or mines, and they shut down, and there's nothing of significance to replace it other than a Walmart. And the automation of low-skill jobs. And stagnating income levels that don't provide a living wage for a family.
Trying to contextualize this as a result of losing socially constructed "privilege" is way off the mark, IMO.
they know who they are. the good kind of white people who believe in a Christian god, and deserve to be rich, but haven't reached their full potential yet.
Gordon Shumway
Banned
Muppet of a Man
Member
Look at all the declining/low rates in those social democracies. Too bad these bigoted conservative fuckers in the U.S. are too proud and full of hate for their fellow man to join in with the winners.
I guess they'd rather be uncompetitive losers and keep their outmoded dogmas intact.
What's rotten in America is a disintegrating, inadequate social contract that is being actively chipped away at by those fueled with greed, hatred, and manipulative anti-intellectualism.
I guess they'd rather be uncompetitive losers and keep their outmoded dogmas intact.
What's rotten in America is a disintegrating, inadequate social contract that is being actively chipped away at by those fueled with greed, hatred, and manipulative anti-intellectualism.
godhandiscen
There are millions of whiny 5-year olds on Earth, and I AM THEIR KING.
Interesting take. I would be inclined to agree, but I feel it is quite the stretch to blame it on white privilege. A more detailed analysis is necessary before reaching such conclusions.
shawnbuddy
Member
I do sometimes feel like voting Trump was a suicidal act.
You could compare that to white flight, and what it did to several areas.
Compare the handling of the opioid epidemic compared to the crack epidemic.
The parallels are there
These people thought they were temporally embarrassed millionaires, and told the "Welfare queens" were holding them back. The code changes but the meaning never does
The Technomancer
card-carrying scientician
Let us fucking help you
Obliterator
Member
Its sad, it really is, and I don't see this number shrinking any time soon. Its likely to keep growing as I don't see things getting any better for poor / working class people any time soon (of any color)
Massive Duck. C.M.
Banned
I liked Tim Wise's commentary on this.
When anyone non-white tries to explain this they call us racist, and even when someone like Tim Wise says it they still feel itchy.
This problem will never get better until people admit some things.
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