economic crisis suicides
Jan. 27th, 2009 08:49 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rmI have a morbid fixation with the suicides that are being reported as due to the economic crisis.
I'm not sure why, other than as a measure of how bad it is -- not just in terms of the economy, and not even just in terms of consumer sentiment, but in terms of how our economic structure enforces for so many people the idea of no options, and, in terms of support systems, often provides no options.
Anyway, there was the old lady who was foreclosed on who failed in her suicide attempt; and the guy who got laid off from a tech company and then killed his wife and son at Stanford before shooting himself. There's been a couple of hedge fund guys (at least one of which was related to Madoff's ponzi scheme), and now this which is hands down the most horrifying one I've read about.
And chances are, there are a whole bunch more out there that none of us know about.
This is the measure of what's happening out there to people who, by and large, aren't that different from us. And sometimes it feels like Katrina (the only thing that's ever forced me to stop watching news coverage for even a day because I couldn't take it) happening in slow motion.
I'm not sure why, other than as a measure of how bad it is -- not just in terms of the economy, and not even just in terms of consumer sentiment, but in terms of how our economic structure enforces for so many people the idea of no options, and, in terms of support systems, often provides no options.
Anyway, there was the old lady who was foreclosed on who failed in her suicide attempt; and the guy who got laid off from a tech company and then killed his wife and son at Stanford before shooting himself. There's been a couple of hedge fund guys (at least one of which was related to Madoff's ponzi scheme), and now this which is hands down the most horrifying one I've read about.
And chances are, there are a whole bunch more out there that none of us know about.
This is the measure of what's happening out there to people who, by and large, aren't that different from us. And sometimes it feels like Katrina (the only thing that's ever forced me to stop watching news coverage for even a day because I couldn't take it) happening in slow motion.
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no subject
Date: 2009-01-28 02:45 am (UTC)I expect that the exurban developments which are largely empty these days are going to be the first ones to go up in flames. They're too far out to have much in the way of coverage by the fire department so a good blaze could probably take out an entire cull-de-sac. Especially in the west.
California has enough problems as is but I wouldn't be surprised.
no subject
Date: 2009-01-28 02:46 am (UTC)There's been a weird string of arsons in PA that's pretty clearly some random firebug.
no subject
Date: 2009-01-28 03:14 am (UTC)Anyone who could afford to spend half a million and up on a tract home in Fontana, CA (aka, Fontucky) is probably enough of a type A personality where they're not going to take foreclosure lying down.
no subject
Date: 2009-01-28 06:35 am (UTC)