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Increasingly in Europe, Suicides ‘by Economic Crisis’

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K

Kabouter

Member
TREVISO, Italy — On New Year’s Eve, Antonio Tamiozzo, 53, hanged himself in the warehouse of his construction business near Vicenza, after several debtors did not pay what they owed him.

Three weeks earlier, Giovanni Schiavon, 59, a contractor, shot himself in the head at the headquarters of his debt-ridden construction company on the outskirts of Padua. As he faced the bleak prospect of ordering Christmas layoffs at his family firm of two generations, he wrote a last message: “Sorry, I cannot take it anymore.”

The economic downturn that has shaken Europe for the last three years has also swept away the foundations of once-sturdy lives, leading to an alarming spike in suicide rates. Especially in the most fragile nations like Greece, Ireland and Italy, small-business owners and entrepreneurs are increasingly taking their own lives in a phenomenon some European newspapers have started calling “suicide by economic crisis.”

Many, like Mr. Tamiozzo and Mr. Schiavon, have died in obscurity. Others, like the desperate 77-year-old retiree who shot himself outside the Greek Parliament on April 4, have turned their personal despair into dramatic public expressions of anger at the leaders who have failed to soften the blows of the crisis.
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In Greece, the suicide rate among men increased more than 24 percent from 2007 to 2009, government statistics show. In Ireland during the same period, suicides among men rose more than 16 percent. In Italy, suicides motivated by economic difficulties have increased 52 percent, to 187 in 2010 — the most recent year for which statistics were available — from 123 in 2005.

Researchers say the trend has intensified this year as government austerity measures took hold and compounded the hardships for many. While suicides often have many complex causes, researchers have found that severe economic stress corresponds to higher suicide rates.

“Financial crisis puts the lives of ordinary people at risk, but much more dangerous is when there are radical cuts to social protection,” said David Stuckler, a sociologist at the University of Cambridge, who led a study published in The Lancet that found a sharp rise in suicides across Europe, particularly in seriously affected countries like Greece and Ireland from 2007 to 2009, years that coincided with the downturn.

“Austerity can turn a crisis into an epidemic,” Mr. Stuckler added.
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To search for answers, researchers for the National Suicide Research Foundation in Cork interviewed surviving relatives of 190 people who committed suicide in County Cork during the turbulent period from 2008 to March 2011.

The victims were predominantly men, with an average age of 36. Almost 40 percent were unemployed, and 32 percent worked in construction as plumbers, electricians and plasterers, said Ella Arensman, the foundation’s director of research. Generally, she added, they suffered from a constellation of problems: financial struggles, unemployment, broken relationships and loneliness.

Across Europe, men are the most vulnerable, particularly unmarried men who have weak family and government support, according to Mr. Stuckler, the sociologist. Alcohol abuse is a frequent contributing factor, he said, adding, “It’s really important to have friends and family you can trust in hard times.”
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Much more here:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/15/w...ly-in-europe-suicides-by-economic-crisis.html
 
A

Admiral Bone to Pick

Banned
Sadly this has been going on in Eastern Europe for a long time. The part about social cuts was particularly telling. Any time you have cuts in government programs combined with general economic malaise, it'll spell disaster.
 
E

el retorno

Member
Chichikov said:
The recession is hitting Europe much harder than the US.
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A lot of it self imposed with all the rapid cuts. I really wonder when the austerity craziness is going to stop. I really doubt the markets are going to freak out if the cuts are a bit slower but the economies begin to grow again.
 
V

Ventilaator

Banned
Especially in the most fragile nations like Greece
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I don't really know why this image is on a T-shirt, but I love this. People in Greece are killing themselves over how horrible their life is, but I've heard several people here in Estonia joke about moving over there for an instant boost in quality of life.

greece-vs-estonia.jpeg
 
C

Chichikov

Member
shadyspace said:
Because of their social programs?
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No, there's no correlation between the size or existence social programs and the depth of the recession.
It's mostly due to the austerity measures they enact and because the weaker economies cannot devalue their currency.

Funky Papa said:
I would argue that this is only true in certain countries. Those particular nations are getting absolutely leveled, though.
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That's a fair point, though I think that even individually, most of the EU countries are suffering through a worse rescission than the US.
 
K

Kabouter

Member
el retorno de los sapos said:
A lot of it self imposed with all the rapid cuts. I really wonder when the austerity craziness is going to stop. I really doubt the markets are going to freak out if the cuts are a bit slower but the economies begin to grow again.
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Yes. I'm usually one of the stronger advocates of austerity, but you should never overdo it like many European nations are right now. Restore market confidence with long term reforms rather than swift and deep cuts, and allow economies to grow again. I also feel like there just needs to be more of a general plan across the EU (or at least, the Eurozone) in how to deal with the crisis, rather than letting each nation go at it alone. Sure, federalization would be better still, but I'd settle for some real cooperation with nations truly committing to that cooperation.
 
S

shadyspace

Banned
Chichikov said:
No, there's no correlation between the size or existence social programs and the depth of the recession.
It's mostly due to the austerity measures they enact and because the weaker economies cannot devalue their currency.
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Because the EU won't let them, right?
 
L

Lagspike_exe

Member
Funky Papa said:
I would argue that this is only true in certain countries. Those particular nations are getting absolutely leveled, though.
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Those certain countries make up a signifcant part of the entire EU population and are going to get so decimated by this crisis it will certainly impact the rest of the now-stable EU member states.

Fiscal and monetary policies currently in place in EU is completely idiotic. ECB needs to start printing and countries must stop austerity. Inflation should be the least of our worries in a crisis.
 
S

shadyspace

Banned
Kabouter said:
Kinda hard to when they don't have their own currencies (I'm assuming Chichikov is strictly speaking of Eurozone nations here)
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Chichikov said:
Because they don't have their own currency.
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Maybe I'm thinking of inflating the Euro then. Just something I vaguely remember from a TLA life episode. Something about Germany being the architect of the EU and as a result of post-WWI inflation turning Germany into a hellscape they're very much against letting anyone try that with the euro? Obviously I'm not an expert here.


empty vessel said:
The US hasn't done austerity (yet). In fact, that's why the US is experiencing a (weak) recovery so far while Europe is not. But that could easily change given the political climate.

http://bilbo.economicoutlook.net/blog/?p=18363
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That's kind of strange. With the US being such a much more right-leaning nation than pretty much any Eurozone one, you would think the exact opposite of what happened in reality would have occurred.
 
F

Funky Papa

FUNK-Y-PPA-4
shadyspace said:
Because the EU won't let them, right?
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Germany will never allow to bend the European economy in any way that could endanger its industrial supremacy. And then there is also this very teutonic paranoia about hyperinflation. Spain and Italy could GREATLY benefit from a softer euro, but Germany won't have any of that. We either devalue our currency fast and hard or the only industry left in Spain will be centered around golf courses and tacky beach resorts.
 
L

Lagspike_exe

Member
shadyspace said:
Maybe I'm thinking of inflating the Euro then. Just something I vaguely remember from a TLA life episode. Something about Germany being the architect of the EU and as a result of post-WWI inflation turning Germany into a hellscape they're very much against letting anyone try that with the euro? Obviously I'm not an expert here.
Click to expand...

Germany post-WWI and EU right now have nothing in common. Germany in 1919 was a war ravaged country, with a barely existing economy forced to pay huge amounts of reparation costs to the Allied side. On the other hand, EU right now is a very developed and secured enviorement. Instead of pumping cash to close the output gap that appeared in 2008 various goverments chose to implement drastic austerity programs that led to a depressed demand, fueling more austerity. Countries overcome economical crsis by creating demand, not by reducing it.

You can try to make a case for Spain and Greece, which are in a rather dire situation, but Germany's lack of monetary stimulation is a ghost from the past, a paranoia that's blocking them from utilizing their economy to a full extent and growing the living standard of their citizen, which is necessary if they want to prevent further decrease of their market, due to the decreasing population.
 
empty vessel

empty vessel

Member
shadyspace said:
Maybe I'm thinking of inflating the Euro then. Just something I vaguely remember from a TLA life episode. Something about Germany being the architect of the EU and as a result of post-WWI inflation turning Germany into a hellscape they're very much against letting anyone try that with the euro? Obviously I'm not an expert here.
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Germany's experience with inflation plays into Germany's fear of it today. They effectively put the Eurozone on a kind of gold standard. As the economic powerhouse of the Eurozone, Germany is at least risk, because it can exploit the weaker economies, but it will eventually come back to bite Germany, too.

In fact:

Even the German bond tender “failed” this week. According to the latest Bundesbank report (April 11, 2012) – Federal bond issue – Auction result data, we learn that Germany’s central bank is doing exactly what it claims the ECB and other central banks should not do – buy up national government debt in big quantities.

The Issue Volume was 5 billion euros and the Bundesbank purchased 1.13 billion euros worth – you can work out the percentage – just under a quarter. But moreover, the competitive bids were valued at 1.852 billion euros (that is, less than 37 per cent of the Issue Volume). In other words, the private markets are now reluctant to buy even German government debt.
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http://bilbo.economicoutlook.net/blog/?p=18970

When a country does not have the power to issue currency, it makes its promises to pay money in the future (which is what a bond is) subject to being doubted. Countries that issue currency do not have this problem, because they can always pay. See, e.g., Japan (which is what the above link is primarily about).

shadyspace said:
That's kind of strange. With the US being such a much more right-leaning nation than pretty much any Eurozone one, you would think the exact opposite of what happened in reality would have occurred.
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Yeah, it is quite ironic. But, then, some forces have more to gain in Europe by dismantling the welfare state. The US doesn't have much of one to dismantle to begin with, although there obviously are attempts to do that here. See, e.g., Paul Ryan's proposed budget.
 
A

Admiral Bone to Pick

Banned
Funky Papa said:
Germany will never allow to bend the European economy in any way that could endanger its industrial supremacy. And then there is also this very teutonic paranoia about hyperinflation. Spain and Italy could GREATLY benefit from a softer euro, but Germany won't have any of that.
Click to expand...

Well then, seems like Germany has finally dominated Europe.
 
K

Kabouter

Member
shadyspace said:
Maybe I'm thinking of inflating the Euro then. Just something I vaguely remember from a TLA life episode. Something about Germany being the architect of the EU and as a result of post-WWI inflation turning Germany into a hellscape they're very much against letting anyone try that with the euro? Obviously I'm not an expert here.
Click to expand...

Yes, that is a significant part of it, and it is part of the reason we are in a mess. It's not the whole of it though.

shadyspace said:
That's kind of strange. With the US being such a much more right-leaning nation than pretty much any Eurozone one, you would think the exact opposite of what happened in reality would have occurred.
Click to expand...
Due to the nature of the American political system, a combination of spending increases and tax decreases have occurred in recent times. Particularly during the Bush administration, where two expensive wars were started, some expensive government plans were implemented and some colossal tax cuts were enacted, things took a turn for the worse there. Reversing the Bush tax cuts has not proved politically feasible.

Mr. Serious Business said:
Well then, seems like Germany has finally dominated Europe.
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Like I've said many times, after Thatcher and later British Prime Ministers essentially ceded any influence the UK had on the EU political process, the EU has effectively been run by a duumvirate made up of France and Germany. The EU's current structure makes it very easy for the strongest powers to dominate politics, far easier than it would be under a proper federal system. Germany has been the most influential of the two by a significant margin for quite some time. Very little has changed, the shift of power from France to Germany has not been as great as people think it is, what has changed is people's perception of the balance of power within the EU, which has become quite a lot more accurate.
 
D

DeFiBkIlLeR

Banned
It's great when you have the worlds reserve currency isn't it?...get to play by a whole set of different rules to everyone else.

All those shiny new Aircraft Carriers, fighter jets and tanks your so proud of....being paid for by the Chinese.
 
F

Funky Papa

FUNK-Y-PPA-4
Mr. Serious Business said:
Well then, seems like Germany has finally dominated Europe.
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There won't be shit to dominate if Germany's gov. doesn't wise up. This is the thing that really drives me mad: Merkel can only think in short terms and at the same time is incredibly inmobilist when it comes to her own country's economy.

She doesn't understand that much of Germany's wealth and almost its entire power comes from its European exports. Italy and Spain are the third and the fourth biggest economies in the EU (barring the UK); strangle them to death and let's see how that works out for Germany.
 
L

Lagspike_exe

Member
shadyspace said:
That's been my take away from all this. They took the long way to get there but there they are.
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They haven't won anything. Euro will face a meltdown with the inevitable colapse of southern European countries. Instead of increasing the money supply to soften the blow, Euro is heading to a full blown colapse when Spain goes bankrupt. Chain of events started by Greece will cause a long-term destabilization of the union, that will seriously put in question its very existance. By now, the entire German political capital is invested into the EU, not to mention the fall in living standard experienced by their citizen in the aftermath of Eastern Block colapse and the switch from DM to Euro. Long term, Germany is in a very bad position.
 
C

Chichikov

Member
DeFiBkIlLeR said:
It's great when you have the worlds reserve currency isn't it?...get to play by a whole set of different rules to everyone else.
Click to expand...
And the Euro is not a reserve currency?
DeFiBkIlLeR said:
All those shiny new Aircraft Carriers, fighter jets and tanks your so proud of....being paid for by the Chinese.
Click to expand...
Most of the US debt is held by US citizens.
Also, issuing t-bills is not exactly the same as "the Chinese are paying for your armies lol".
 
K

Kabouter

Member
Funky Papa said:
There won't be shit to dominate if Germany's gov. doesn't wise up. This is the thing that really drives me mad: Merkel can only think in short terms and at the same time is incredibly inmobilist when it comes to its own country's economy.

She doesn't understand that much of Germany's wealth and almost its entire power comes from its European exports. Italy and Spain are the third and the fourth biggest economies in the EU; strangle them to death and let's see how that works out for Germany.
Click to expand...

Short term politics seem to dominate across the board in Europe. While I can't speak in detail of the political situation in every EU member state, I know that here in the Netherlands, it's less than 20% of Parliament that's in favour of real reforms and understands that we need to think far more in the long term rather than trying desperately to hold on to everything we have now.
 
empty vessel

empty vessel

Member
DeFiBkIlLeR said:
All those shiny new Aircraft Carriers, fighter jets and tanks your so proud of....being paid for by the Chinese.
Click to expand...

No, it isn't. It's being paid for by Americans. The Chinese just have savings accounts with the US government. Where they put the dollars (worthless pieces of paper) that we send them in exchange for real goods.
 
F

Funky Papa

FUNK-Y-PPA-4
speculawyer said:
You don't think the spate of shootings lately has not been related to the economic situation?

Really?

I see them all the time.
http://news.yahoo.com/feds-seek-evidence-fiery-calif-standoff-083406300.html
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This may sound weird, but I'm absolutely AMAZED that almost no one has gone postal so far. We had an incident last year in which a very stressed man blasted two bank employees, his former boss and his son with a shotgun (the later two owed him a lot of money, apparently) but other than that particular case things seem rather calm. Handguns may be rare over Europe, but we have plenty of hunters.
 
K

Kabouter

Member
Funky Papa said:
This may sound weird, but I'm absolutely AMAZED that almost no one has gone postal so far. We had a particular incident last year in which a very stressed man blasted his former boss and his son with a shotgun (both owed him a lot of money, apparently) but other than that particular case things seem rather calm. Handguns may be rare over Europe, but we have plenty of hunters.
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There have been a number of stories of people in several European countries, including some here in the Netherlands, killing their entire family and then killing themselves because they saw no way out any more. I'm guessing you're thinking of more public displays of violence, but yeah, none of those really so far.
 
C

Chichikov

Member
Funky Papa said:
This may sound weird, but I'm absolutely AMAZED that almost no one has gone postal so far. We had an incident last year in which a very stressed man blasted two bank employees, his former boss and his son with a shotgun (the later two owed him a lot of money, apparently) but other than that particular case things seem rather calm. Handguns may be rare over Europe, but we have plenty of hunters.
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Crime has generally gone down in the US during this recession.
I have not yet heard a convincing explanation as to why.
 
O

Oozinator

Banned
Europeans can't handle losing some benefits they have over third world countries ? Just as when the economy is flourishing they get many social benefits, they should be willing to give up on these benefits during a downturn.
 
F

Funky Papa

FUNK-Y-PPA-4
Oozinator said:
Europeans can't handle losing some benefits they have over third world countries ? Just as when the economy is flourishing they get many social benefits, they should be willing to give up on these benefits when the economy is not doing so well.
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You don't seem to understand the first thing of it.
 
D

Divvy

Canadians burned my passport
Chichikov said:
Crime has generally gone down in the US during this recession.
I have not yet heard a convincing explanation as to why.
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It's probably a mixture of many reasons from improved law enforcement technologies, increase in ratio of cyber crimes (which is harder for yoru layman to participate in) to the fact that the baby boomer population is getting older and less likely to commit crimes.

Though some cities who have had to cut their police budget due to the recession have seen pretty dramatic increase in crimes.
 
A

Always-honest

Banned
Kabouter said:
Not much else coming out of Europe right now, at least not in terms of economy-related news, which is what interests me most.
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TU Delft discovered a particle...

anyway, fucking depressing times ahead in Europe. it's not getting any better soon.
and within now and 20 years, millions will die from old age. A death wave.
 
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