A group of middle-aged whites in the U.S. is dying at a startling rate

[Kabluey]

Don't go there. I will be forced to remind you that the destruction oh the middle clas results from the massive inflow of millions and millions and millions of immigrants, working cheap and pulling wages down. Them you will accuse me of diverting the thread.

Yeah, except the opposite happened when your immigration was at record highs.
Change the record.

As for the death rate, it is the prime age for sedentary lifestyles and obesity to complicate any medical problems.
The USA is bigger than everywhere else.

 

[Telstra]

Maybe because of very poor diet as well.
They don't eat fruit and vegetable much ??

For example, Australian Aborigines,
not sure what their dying age range are ....

 

[Benvolio]

Yeah, except the opposite happened when your immigration was at record highs.
Change the record.

As for the death rate, it is the prime age for sedentary lifestyles and obesity to complicate any medical problems.
The USA is bigger than everywhere else.

It is doubtful that Whte people suffer that much more from obesity and the sedentary lifestyle than minorities.

 

[BenDan]

I almost posted this thread myself a few months ago.

This problem is a manifestation of the destruction of the American middle class. Poorly-educated, middle-aged white guys no longer have the financial resources that were available to this group in the past. Highly paid, low-skill manufacturing jobs do not exist anymore. Because of their age and lack of education, these guys have no hope of obtaining a job. Ever.

Moreover, the recent trend to cut social welfare benefits has hit this group hard. They simply have no alternatives for survival.

Absence of hope = Likelihood of death.

For all his talk about this problem, Obama has done nothing (okay, very little) to address it. Hillary says she would not raise their taxes, an obviously laughable suggestion. And all of the Republican presidential candidates want to try to make the problem a lot worse.

I tend to agree with this

I also think that the "new" economy where job "growth" is really lower paying jobs not those that can sustain

is debilitating mentally especially to middle aged white men

no one wants to admit the problem - not the President who instead wants to puff his chest about "declining" unemployment

everyone is selling and many are dying

 

[Telstra]

Yet another example of how important education is.

My guess is that these people simply do not understand how to take care of themselves as they get older.

How can people take care of themselves when they start leaving home at early or late teens,
and they haven't been taught of lifestyle skills like cooking and cleaning ??

 

[Kulindahr]

Don't go there. I will be forced to remind you that the destruction oh the middle clas results from the massive inflow of millions and millions and millions of immigrants, working cheap and pulling wages down. Them you will accuse me of diverting the thread.

In other words rather than grapple with the real issues you'll retreat to an conspiracy theory that has been shown false repeatedly.

One big reason that the middle class is disappearing is because of the policies that make labor powerless and effectively slaves of corporations -- policies you support. That allows people with totally unearned income to rake in wealth produced by other people with no obligation to pay.

You want to fix the wage issue, start billing large corporations for the cost of government aid to their employees. Otherwise that assistance is an incentive for corporations to pay as little as they can get away with, thus increasing the size of government.

 

[eastofeden]

A lot of Americans have no access to health care or are afraid if they do seek health care they will be in debt forever so they ignore problems.

This is why the single payer provision that the Republicans insisted on is why so many Liberals hate Obamacare..not because of Obama.

 

[Benvolio]

A lot of Americans have no access to health care or are afraid if they do seek health care they will be in debt forever so they ignore problems.

This is why the single payer provision that the Republicans insisted on is why so many Liberals hate Obamacare..not because of Obama.

That does not explain why mortality among middle income whites is increasing, but among minorities declining.

 

[opinterph]

Saw a guy talking about this on Zakaria GPS (CNN) …

That guy is Angus Deaton.

Dr. Deaton is one of this year’s Nobel Prize recipients for his contributions toward designs of economic policies that promote welfare and reduce poverty. He and his wife (Dr. Ann Case) are also authors of the report that he and Fareed Zakaria discussed on GPS. He said in an interview with NYT; “Only H.I.V./AIDS in contemporary times has done anything like this.”

Nonsense. The death rate for minorities is still higher than for whites.

From the report abstract:

The midlife mortality reversal was confined to white non-Hispanics; black non-Hispanics and Hispanics at midlife, and those aged 65 and above in every racial and ethnic group, continued to see mortality rates fall.

That does not explain why mortality among middle income whites is increasing, but among minorities declining.

What Donald Trump and dying white people have in common (Wonkblog; Jeff Guo; December 15, 2015)​

 

[T-Rexx]

The midlife mortality reversal was confined to white non-Hispanics; black non-Hispanics and Hispanics at midlife, and those aged 65 and above in every racial and ethnic group, continued to see mortality rates fall.

Yes, the death rate for minorities has been falling. But it is still higher than for whites, despite the fact that the death rate for poorly-educated, middle-class whites it is increasing.

What is happening is that poorly-educated whites are dropping out of the middle class and into the lower class. And, as they do so, they begin to look demographically more and more like that lower class, including their tendency to die. The data are hardly surprising.

 

[Benvolio]

Yes, the death rate for minorities has been falling. But it is still higher than for whites, despite the fact that the death rate for poorly-educated, middle-class whites it is increasing.

What is happening is that poorly-educated whites are dropping out of the middle class and into the lower class. And, as they do so, they begin to look demographically more and more like that lower class, including their tendency to die. The data are hardly surprising.

This thread and the op study deal with the middle class and not those who have dropped out. I could not find the figures got minority mortality factoring out crime and focusing on the 45 to 54 age group. Thus I could not verify your claim that minorities still have higher mortality rates.

 

[T-Rexx]

This thread and the op study deal with the middle class and not those who have dropped out.

Nowhere does it say anything whatsoever in this study about the economic circumstances of the study group.

This is simply a study that shows that white men, aged 45-54, with less than a college education, are dying at an unprecedented rate. And this is only happening in the United States.

The idea that this is a reflection of a changing economic circumstance for this group is my interpretation, but a fairly obvious insight. The group is taking on the demographics of the new, lower class, to which they now belong.

I could not find the figures got minority mortality factoring out crime and focusing on the 45 to 54 age group. Thus I could not verify your claim that minorities still have higher mortality rates.

Read paragraph #12 of the OP link:

While the death rate for African Americans is still greater than the rate for whites, the turnaround among whites is shocking because of the advantages they enjoy...

https://www.washingtonpost.com/nati...g-rate/2015/11/02/47a63098-8172-11e5-8ba6-cec

 

[opinterph]

The data are hardly surprising.

Have you peeked at the Case/Deaton report?

The change in all-cause mortality for white non-Hispanics 45–54 is largely accounted for by an increasing death rate from external causes, mostly increases in drug and alcohol poisonings and in suicide.

… Poisonings overtook lung cancer as a cause of death in 2011 in this age group; suicide appears poised to do so.

The 2014 data demonstrate that the United States' opioid overdose epidemic includes two distinct but interrelated trends: a 15-year increase in overdose deaths involving prescription opioid pain relievers and a recent surge in illicit opioid overdose deaths, driven largely by heroin.

Increases in Drug and Opioid Overdose Deaths — United States, 2000–2014
(Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; December 18, 2015)

Nowhere does it say anything whatsoever in this study about the economic circumstances of the study group.

Rising morbidity and mortality in midlife among white non-Hispanic Americans in the 21st century

From the study …

Although the epidemic of pain, suicide, and drug overdoses preceded the financial crisis, ties to economic insecurity are possible. After the productivity slowdown in the early 1970s, and with widening income inequality, many of the baby-boom generation are the first to find, in midlife, that they will not be better off than were their parents. Growth in real median earnings has been slow for this group, especially those with only a high school education. However, the productivity slowdown is common to many rich countries, some of which have seen even slower growth in median earnings than the United States, yet none have had the same mortality experience.

 

[Benvolio]

Wrong. The study and figures deal with middle class whites, while your post 30 deals with those who have dropped from middle class.

Paragraph 12 deals with African Americans generally, including those under 45 and over 54, including infants, youths involved in gangs, and other victims of crime. It does no determine whether minority members of the 45 to 54 group still have higher morality, notwithstanding the current apparent divergence. Your point could be well taken, but only if we are talking about comparable groups and whites and minorities.

 

[Kabluey]

Is heroin more lethal than inhaled cocaine?
Maybe it's the drug of choice that's doing it?

 

[T-Rexx]

Have you peeked at the Case/Deaton report?

The change in all-cause mortality for white non-Hispanics 45–54 is largely accounted for by an increasing death rate from external causes, mostly increases in drug and alcohol poisonings and in suicide.

… Poisonings overtook lung cancer as a cause of death in 2011 in this age group; suicide appears poised to do so.

(Actually I did read it, although it was a few months ago. I was actually going to post a thread on it here, but I imagined there would not be much interest in it).

Yes, as I said, these formerly middle-class whites are taking on the demographics of the lower class. Their rates of drug overdose and suicide, and the consequences of alcohol abuse are beginning to reflect those of similar economic circumstance.

These are poorly educated guys who once earned a decent living from low-skill jobs that no longer exist. They are now middle-aged, and unemployable in the new economy. They are despairing.

From the study …

Although the epidemic of pain, suicide, and drug overdoses preceded the financial crisis, ties to economic insecurity are possible. After the productivity slowdown in the early 1970s, and with widening income inequality, many of the baby-boom generation are the first to find, in midlife, that they will not be better off than were their parents. Growth in real median earnings has been slow for this group, especially those with only a high school education. However, the productivity slowdown is common to many rich countries, some of which have seen even slower growth in median earnings than the United States, yet none have had the same mortality experience.

Yes, exactly!

This group is steadily falling out of the middle class. But it has only manifested itself in lethal consequences in the USA because here this group has little access to health care and few of the social supports that are available in other developed countries. And it began prior to the financial crisis, because the decline of the middle class began prior to the financial crisis.

Death rates overall (even among the poor in the USA) have been falling generally, largely because of the decline in smoking. That is why it is so remarkable that the death rate for this particular group has risen, and risen dramatically.

 

[Kulindahr]

A lot of Americans have no access to health care or are afraid if they do seek health care they will be in debt forever so they ignore problems.

This is why the single payer provision that the Republicans insisted on is why so many Liberals hate Obamacare..not because of Obama.

Yep. Obamacare is not liked not because it is liberal, but because it is corporatist.

 

[Kulindahr]

Wrong. The study and figures deal with middle class whites, while your post 30 deals with those who have dropped from middle class.

You were corrected on this already. The study deals with education, not economic class.

 

[Zeno Lorea]

Although the middle class is struggling in other countries too, in the USA it is impoverishing at an alarming rate. The poorest fifty percent of Americans now have lower purchasing power than the poorest fifty percent of the people in the Baltic states, the Czech republic, Slovenia and a number of other former communist countries. Imagine that. People whose parents couldn't afford a Yugo now fly to Venice for a vacation. People whose parents raised four kids on one income from a car plant now struggle to pay their mortgage. "C'est la vie," said the old folks, "just goes to show ya never can tell!"

 

[vulgar_newcomer]

Don't go there. I will be forced to remind you that the destruction oh the middle clas results from the massive inflow of millions and millions and millions of immigrants, working cheap and pulling wages down. Them you will accuse me of diverting the thread.

Yeah of course that is it! How could we be so stupid that this has to be pounded in our heads by you in every thread.

I mean things like technology that reduce labor don't account for job loss.

Where are the electric company power meter readers? The power meters on building are now read automatically. Gone is the meter reader, usually a decent paying gig with generous benefits working for a monopolized utility.

The same for toll booth collectors replaced by cards and stickers.

Railroad crews reduced with technology..... so on and so.

These are example of jobs that haven't been outsourced.

What is left , corporate America and government agencies are replacing with low wage paying contractors who offer nothing in benefits.