The economy of others is substantially affecting more white people now
A new paper by Nobel Laureate Angus Deaton and Anne Case on the mortality of middle-aged white people have been rather shocking. The Washington Post reported it as follows.
A large segment of white middle-aged Americans has suffered a startling rise in its death rate since 1999, according to a review of statistics published Monday that shows a sharp reversal in decades of progress toward longer lives.
The mortality rate for white men and women ages 45-54 with less than a college education increased markedly between 1999 and 2013, most likely because of problems with legal and illegal drugs, alcohol and suicide, the researchers concluded. Before then, death rates for that group dropped steadily, and at a faster pace.
An increase in the mortality rate for any large demographic group in an advanced nation has been virtually unheard of in recent decades, with the exception of Russian men after the collapse of the Soviet Union.
Death rate for U.S. non-Hispanic whites (USW), U.S. Hispanics and six comparison countries, aged 45-54. (Source: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.)
“Half a million people are dead who should not be dead,” Angus Deaton said. “About 40 times the Ebola stats. You’re getting up there with HIV-AIDS.”
This is a very important report for several reasons. From a socio-economic standpoint it illustrates that all humans share common behaviors under similar conditions. Stress and lack of hope for the future encourages destructive behavior.
The report also illustrates that America is on an unsustainable path. The stresses that have affected some are now spreading in the aggregate to the majority population.
In other words, in the aggregate, our economic system has extracted all it can from those with little recourse. Whose next? Supply-side economics has been slamming ‘whose next’ for 3 decades. They are now middle-aged and reaping the results. The chart is probative.
One hopes that ALL Americans will realize we are all on the same boat. The fight is not between us. It is against an extractive system that knows no race, religion, or creed. Our politics and those we elect must begin reflecting that. Unfortunately in yesterday’s election, these same Americans elected those creating the economy that will cause their demise.
We must educate each other.
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