(07-17-2016, 08:22 PM)Odin Wrote: A really depressing blog post about how those currently left behind by out "new economy" and are completely ignored by mainstream politicians. I grew up around the rural "unnecessariat", so this really hits close to home for me. Lots of people out here in "flyover country" killing themselves directly by suicide or indirectly by drugs because they have no hope in their lives.
This is really good because it's something I've expressed for a while now. I must tie into the "opioid crisis" and all this mess with healthcare that people are being yanked off medication they need because "you will fall asleep and die".
I have tied this in to exactly what the OP is saying. I have believed for a while people ARE intentionally killing themselves due to losing everything in the New Great Depression. We all were instructed to call it The Great Recession and then that even went away after a while. No one is talking about it anymore.
No one is really checking into the matters of FACT that entire lives were decimated since 2008. And lives continue to be decimated still now, a decade later. Depending on what city or state you live in, there are more homeless on EVERY intersection begging and living under bridges that I care to count. People are being evicted and forced out with unreasonable rents. Right now (and not everyone lives in San Francisco but it's an indicator) a 1 bedroom apartment ON AVERAGE costs about $2500/mo. ONE BEDROOM APARTMENT in the greater bay area.
This is not just a big city problem, it is an everywhere problem.
And I do believe people are just choosing to check out of their own volition. They may be using prescription drugs to do it. I happen to use certain prescription drugs and was greatly affected by this nonsense that people are accidentally going to the medicine cabinet in the middle of the night and taking too many pills BY MISTAKE and dying. I do not subscribe to the idea medications that worked for ppl for decades are SUDDENLY life-threatening.
The fact is, entire lives were and continue to be wiped out, the American Dream is practically dead, and a lot of ppl just don't care to work 5 jobs until they are 80yo and die without ever retiring or saving anything and living paycheck to paycheck with all that stress.
And when people in "flyover" states die like this, no one cares or notices. It's only when affluent or semi-affluent whites in metro areas do it that it becomes a National Emergency. But it's not the RIGHT emergency. It's lies. People are not dying from opiates because they fell asleep and passed away from accidentally using the prescription not as prescribed. I believe there IS an epidemic where a huge portion of America has given up. And I kinda don't blame them.
a short story:
A friend of mine was a self-made business man. He opened a business and worked it for 25 years. During that time, he bought a home in which to retire. When he sold the business and moved to that home, his loans crashed in (as did thousands in the late 00s and beyond) and he ended up losing that home. He then left the state he was born in and lived in his entire life to move somewhere with his family where they thought they could afford to rent. Being retired and no other skilled AND DISABLED, he and his family were not able to afford the rent even in a state with much less rent values as where he moved from. IN THEIR 70s, they moved in with family in a god-forsaken wilderness, sold just about everything they owned, lost ALL the value and savings they had set up to retire on. My friend died in 2011 from a heart attack which physicians say was due to massive stress. Not being able to care for his family or pass anything on to his children.
That story above could be told again and again I think. He did not kill himself, but as far as I am concerned HE WAS KILLED.
Another friend owned property and rented out most of it while living in one unit. He eventually bought a home in which to retire. When he was no longer able to afford his mortgage, they took his home. His parents had passed down the property to him, it was all they had to give him, it was ALL HE HAD, and then he had nothing. One day, he moved away and I have not seen him since.
How many ppl have been exiled from the lives they knew?
How many Americans lost everything in this New Depression?
And we are being lied to about Americans DYING with prescription meds. I truly believe ppl have lost everything and simply gave up. They had some pills, they sat back with a bottle of wine and checked out. Honestly, some of them faced THAT or becoming the filthy panhandler at the freeway trying to survive one more day. In that situation, I cannot really blame ppl who would make that decision.
I have not even spoken here about lost jobs and the "new economy" there are just so many reasons for people to be giving up. Our lives are really being stolen. Wealth sucked away, then jobs sucked away, families ruined, people working 7 jobs just to pay monthly bills.... and now the rise of machines doing the work of humans and things like amazon running slave labor while not paying tax (i digress) but jobs are being removed at such a rapid rate............... I believed Americans as a whole are willing to work to maintain their lives......
however, WHO in their right mind accepts the idea that you cannot work ONE job as an average person and simply survive?
ONE JOB to survive. 40 hours a week and you can EXIST. That isn't America anymore. if you work on a salary, you are OWNED. You are compelled to work 80 hours because if you dont SOMEONE ELSE WILL. And the rent/mortgage is out of control, no one can even afford to PURCHASE property anymore and rents are too expensive...... what is America now except Oligarchs and the 1%?
Truly, there is only the SERVED and the SERVANTS. Which are you? The servants will huddle up 10 to a room while the served wander a mansion.