Despair, American Style
You see a somewhat similar pattern across regions within the United States. Life expectancy is high and rising in the Northeast and California, where social benefits are highest and traditional values weakest. Meanwhile, low and stagnant or declining life expectancy is concentrated in the Bible Belt.
.. So what is going on? In a recent interview Mr. Deaton suggested that middle-aged whites have “lost the narrative of their lives.” That is, their economic setbacks have hit hard because they expected better. Or to put it a bit differently, we’re looking at people who were raised to believe in the American Dream, and are coping badly with its failure to come true.
.. Ross Douthat and Paul Krugman writing on the same topic and ending in a similar place! I hope both political parties pay attention. This urgent, and will get worse.
The causes are many. Here is another. We are living a game of musical chairs. An economy which doesn’t value people’s efforts, which throws millions of people on the scrap heap with every recession, crushes people’s self esteem. If you grow up in a middle class family, with the expectation that if you’re willing to work, you can have a family, be respected, then find this is impossible, the result is depression and too often suicide.
It’s a terrible thing, but this happened in my own family.
.. Ask almost any white male in his 50s and 60s and he will know of many of his cohorts in the same age group — including himself — who have lost their jobs through no fault of their own.
Age-and-wage is the No. 1 discrimination factor in the American job market today. And education and experience (years of service) are of little help and make matters worse as seniority and education usually mean higher pay.