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US Death Rate Rises, Health Officials Aren't Sure Why (nbcnews.com)

Posted by BeauHD on from the the-mystery-machine dept.

New submitter Ungrounded Lightning writes: According to The New York Times, the U.S. death rate has risen for the first time in more than a decade (or several decades if particular). The rise is across the whole population, though whites, especially the less educated among them, were recently (and separately) documented to be particularly hard hit. The article speculates about drug abuse (prescription as well as illegal), suicides, and Alzheimer's, though it notes that heart disease -- which had been consistently dropping -- has also risen. No mention was made of whether the cutover to Obamacare might have had some effect. The aging of the population was mentioned, though the rise is present even within particular age groups. The National Center for Health Statistics shows the adjusted death rate went up from 723 deaths per 100,000 people in 2014 to nearly 730 deaths per 100,000 in 2015. We do know that the suicide rate in the U.S. has surged to its highest level in almost three decades.

6 of 607 comments (clear)

  1. Recession is really a depression by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Look at the labor participation rate, not the widely reported unemployment figure. The participation rate is dismal and reflects a lot of white, working class men who don't fit into the modern work force.

    1. Re:Recession is really a depression by Grishnakh · · Score: 4, Interesting

      This is absolutely true. Hispanics and blacks, and really all non-whites, with a few exceptions here and there, are generally extremely socially conservative compared to white people. White people are the most socially liberal worldwide, with the possible exception of Thais. Think about it: in what parts of the world is it legal for women to walk around topless or nude? In what parts of the world is it socially acceptable for people to have casual sex with multiple partners? What countries/places have legalized marijuana? What places are the most irreligious? What places are the safest and most accepting for homosexuals? I'll tell you which places aren't on this list: any place in Latin America, any place in the Middle East, China, Philippines, India, Russia, and the American South which is heavily populated by African-Americans. Black people in the South are famous for being extremely religious and conservative, and Hispanics are famous for "family values" and being Catholic and having a lot of kids. These are not traits of socially liberal people.

      Now of course, there's plenty of ultra-conservative white people too, particularly in the South and the Midwest and the "heartland" and also Utah. Also in Russia, where the Russian Orthodox church has become very powerful after the fall of the USSR.

      But you're exactly right: these minorities are generally rather conservative. They only vote Democratic because the Republican party panders to white racism and blames them for the nation's ills, so they happily vote for right-wing Democrats like Hillary who insist that "marriage is between one man and one woman" (up until it's too politically expedient to change that opinion), and who are completely against legalizing marijuana, and who take "campaign contributions" from the private prison industry and payday loan industry.

    2. Re:Recession is really a depression by david_thornley · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Government has some reason to help the poor, but business really doesn't. They don't have money, and the fact that they're poor mean they're more available, replaceable, and exploitable as labor. They don't have the capital to set themselves up in some sort of business, even for the entrepeneural ones.

      So, assume that you're a poor man with a wife and two kids, barely scraping by. You have no money to take courses to improve your lot, or time for that matter, since you're working two part-time jobs and have travel time. In the absence of government intervention, how are you going to get your share of improving productivity?

      If you're a business owner, in the absence of government regulation, what incentive do you have to spend a dime on pollution abatement? These are practical questions. While you say you don't want pollution, grinding poverty, or social Darwinism, I don't see how your ideology leads you to ways to avoid them.

      Certainly, if you can label what you like "socialism" and point to North Korea (totalitarian), China (totalitarian), Greece (devastated by EU bankers), and Venezuela (screwed up) as the inevitable endgame, I can label what you like "anarcho-libertarianism" and point to Somalia. I'd rather stick to more productive arguments, myself.

      --
      "When you have eliminated the unacceptable, whatever is left, however improbable, must be the truthiness" - Holmes
    3. Re:Recession is really a depression by TsuruchiBrian · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Trump doesn't know shit. He is just making it up as he goes along. He has one trick. Rile up angry white racists, and have no shame. I don't think even he realized how successful this idiotically simple strategy would be. I don't think the leaders in the Republican party realized just how many assholes were in their own party until now. The other republican candidates seemed to share the delusion that their party was not about racism, bigotry, xenophobia, misogyny, jingoism, etc, but it turns out they were wrong. That's exactly who they cultivated, and who they are.

      It's completely fucking scary, but at least it's out in the open now. Trump is by far the must unfavorable presidential candidate in US history. Unfortunately the democrats seem unable to nominate a candidate that is better than the 2nd most unfavorable presidential candidate in US history.

      Regardless of who wins this election, the loser will be American society as a whole. Whoops. Luckily the damage a bad president can do alone is limited to making good laws harder to pass and bad laws easier to pass, preventing the nominations of good supreme court justices, and starting shit with other countries.

  2. Re:Poverty by whoever57 · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Not just poverty. Medical insurance is so expensive and often has very high deductibles so that many middle class people don't go to the doctor when they probably should.

    --
    The real "Libtards" are the Libertarians!
  3. Re:it's obvious by Entrope · · Score: 4, Interesting

    If you look at the components of the increase, it does not look much like an obesity epidemic. There are increases in suicide, Alzheimer's, gun deaths (probably because of suicides), and opioid overdoses. Most of the increase was among whites, especially white women, but whites have a slightly lower obesity rate than most other racial categories in the US.

    It is easy, but probably wrong, to blame this on people's bad eating habits.