The Centers for Disease Control recently released the findings of a study that shows that the highest increase in the number of suicides is being observed in people 45 to 54 years old. From 1999 until 2004, the last year for which numbers were collected, middle-aged suicides increased by 20 percent. This is the highest rate since the CDC began keeping track approximately 25 years ago.
The groups traditionally studied are teens and the elderly, but the numbers for 15 to 19 year-olds increased less than 2 percent during this period, and people over 65 are actually now taking their lives less frequently, although the number does rise after the age of 85.
New York Times reporter Patricia Cohen wrote that “for officials, it is a surprising and baffling public health mystery.” Excuse me, but it’s probably surprising to them only because they have secure government jobs with guaranteed pensions paid for by Ernie and Bert, who unload boxes stamped “Made in China” onto the receiving dock in the back of Wal-Mart for $8 an hour. And their bosses in Congress and the White House, whose food, gas, lodging are subsidized by the average middle-aged American, certainly don’t have a clue as to his/her state of mind.
Oldsters have the best numbers because they get happier when they hit their 65th birthdays, that magical moment when they can kiss goodbye paying a fortune in medical insurance premiums and go on Medicare. People older than 54 and younger than 65 are caught in a double bind. No one wants to hire them, and they are too young for the government program.
When they hit 65, they can trash the costly and crappy policy with the $5,000 deductible, the best they could get because they once suffered from something more serious than an ingrown toenail, and actually be able to go to a doctor when they are sick.
http://www.dissidentvoice.org/2008/03/why-so-blue/
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