Suicide Spreads as One Solution to the Debt Crisis

[ThomCat]

People know they have no help, no support. The government won't help them. The government is backing the banks, and is in fact owned by the banks. There are no community resources to really help. We no longer have the type of community relationships and organizations we had in the 1930s to pull us together. We're all strangers to each other now, and we don't know how to meet and work together to get anything done. So what do people do when the bottom drops out? Apparently they're turning to suicide in increasing numbers. :(

With all the trillions of government dollars being tossed around, when will any of it finally be aimed at actual people who need it? Damn it, their lives are worth more than saving CitiBank. x(


http://www.alternet.org/workplace/93077/

Suicide Spreads as One Solution to the Debt Crisis

A few days before Congress passed its Housing Bill, Carlene Balderrama of Taunton MA found her own solution to the housing crisis. Just a little over two hours in advance of the time her mortgage company, PHH Mortgage Corporation -- may its name live in infamy -- was to auction off her home, Balderrama killed herself with her husband's rifle.

This is not the kind of response to hard times that James Grant had in mind when he wrote his July 19 Wall Street Journal essay entitled "Why No Outrage?" "One might infer from the lack of popular anger," the famed Wall Street contrarian wrote, "that the credit crisis was God's fault rather than the doing of the bankers and the rating agencies and the government's snoozing watchdogs." For contrast, he cites the spirited response to the depression of the 1890s, when lawyer/agitator Mary Lease stirred crowds with the message that "We want the accursed foreclosure system wiped out .... We will stand by our homes and stay by our firesides by force if necessary"

[SmileyRose]

1. We had one in our office...

she would have been let go eventually regardless of the economy because of her emotional problems. We tried for more than a year to try and figure out how to enjoy what she has to offer and not have to put up with lying, immaturity, instability, undependability. The economy sped things up and meant she won't be replaced any time soon. The financial hardships were the last straw.

We need better mental health access in this country.

[walkaway]

2. you seem relieved except for the fact she won't be replaced. No wonder

she felt there was no where to turn. There probably wasn't any.

[SmileyRose]

3. I turned myself inside out trying to befriend her, so did others.

She confided in me that she had gone off her medication. By choice. She said didn't have any symptoms anymore so she didn't need it - it was expensive and she wanted the money for vacations anyway. It was all downhill from there. Within a week she was a mess and those of us who knew BEGGED her to go see her doctor and start on the meds again. She had plenty of places to turn, she really did and several of us in the office tried - her mother tried - her boyfriend sure tried.

Yes, a lot of people do commit suicide because they really have nowhere to turn. Others have gobs of people doing everything they know to keep someone alive and that someone commits suicide anyway. We aren't professionals, we can't FORCE someone to take a pill that is the difference between being a beloved friend and co-worker or a holy pain in the ass on wheels. No office is going to put up with a worker throwing fits on a daily basis, yelling, screaming, throwing paperwork in people's faces and punching holes in the walls. The owner of the business had no other choice but to let her go. Even then, he was nice to her about it. She should have just been fired, but instead he decided not to fight her unemployment claim and said she was let go because of the economy - which made her eligible for extra services from the GDOL.

So the judgement you snapped to, that we abandoned her, is unfounded.

[lib2DaBone]

4. Please don't kill yourself... there's a better way to get even...

Kill yourself..that's what the fundies and Republicans WANT you to do. (It leaves more for them)

There is a better way... live to be a hundred years old and collect Social Security every day.

Quit paying taxes
Don't keep any money in a bank
Don't shop at Wal-Mart
Live in an RV so you don't have to pay property taxes.
(make sure RV park has nice heated swimming pool and jacuzzi)

[Beacool]

5. I wish that people would realize that it's NOT a solution.

Life is too precious to lose over money. Yes, a person may lose everything he/she worked for. But that's the time to take stock, dust yourself off and start again. Plenty of people have done it. Ultimately, we don't need all the stuff that we surround ourselves with; we just need our family and friends.

What's even sadder is the increase of men who kill their families first before offing themselves.

On a side note. The Clintons lost a dear friend whom they knew since their Yale days. He killed himself at his law firm on his last day of employment. He had been laid off and his son was the one who found his farewell note. I heard Hillary speak about his death yesterday and she was crying. Why can't people realize the damage they do to their loved ones when they take their lives?

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/04/30/clinton-era-attorney-dead-apparent-suicide/

:(