The Good News about white people dying young
A few months ago I posted an essay about how a study showing that the mortality rate for poor white people was increasing at an alarming rate, and that some people were, uh, shall we say, amused by it.
Well, it turns out that the researchers were professionally attacked for the study. They weren't attacked for making any errors.
Deaton: Anne presented the first paper once and was told, in no uncertain terms: How dare you work on whites.
Case: I was really beaten up.Deaton: And these were really senior people.
Case: Very senior people.
You would think that identity politics and racial stereotypes about whites would take a back seat in the world of science, but you would assume wrong.
Fortunately there is the financial news.
Good News! White people are dropping like flies, and that's GREAT for profits!
In 2015, the American death rate—the age-adjusted share of Americans dying—rose slightly for the first time since 1999. And over the last two years, at least 12 large companies, from Verizon to General Motors, have said recent slips in mortality improvement have led them to reduce their estimates for how much they could owe retirees by upward of a combined $9.7 billion, according to a Bloomberg analysis of company filings. “Revised assumptions indicating a shortened longevity,” for instance, led Lockheed Martin to adjust its estimated retirement obligations downward by a total of about $1.6 billion for 2015 and 2016, it said in its most recent annual report.
You see, by dying early you will allow super-rich shareholders to get more wealthy.
Doesn't that make you want to eat a bullet for the team?
Now some of you might think be tempted to think outside of racial stereotypes and actually care what that might mean to, you know, actual human beings.
Absent a war or an epidemic, it's unusual and alarming for life expectancies in developed countries to stop improving, let alone to worsen. “Mortality is sort of the tip of the iceberg,” says Laudan Aron, a demographer and senior fellow at the Urban Institute. “It really is a reflection of a lot of underlying conditions of life.” The falling trajectory of American life expectancies, especially when compared to those in some other wealthy countries, should be “as urgent a national issue as any other that’s on our national agenda,” she says. ...The broader trend isn’t unique to the U.S. A July publication from the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries in the United Kingdom found that the U.S., Canada, and Britain have all experienced similarly slowing gains since 2011. That report suggested the combination of the recession and cuts to social safety-net programs may have played a role. “These signs should be taken as warnings that worsened health care, behaviour and environment can reverse decades of success in health and longevity,” wrote Joseph Lu, chair of the Institute’s mortality research committee.
It got me thinking.
Companies make profits for killing people in pointless wars.
Companies make profits for giving people long prison terms for minor crimes.
Companies make profits from denying people needed health care.
Companies have bigger profits if you drop dead.
I'm thinking I might not be paranoid.
Comments
Disgusting
Sorry, I'm just tired of this.
So that's all I got:
Disgusting.
Spence Says Trump Just Like T.R.
Since we're talking disgusting news:
Chris Clizza comments here:
http://www.cnn.com/2017/08/18/politics/pence-trump-roosevelt/index.html
Can we just start all over again?
"They'll say we're disturbing the peace, but there is no peace. What really bothers them is that we are disturbing the war." Howard Zinn
Oh please. If Dipshit were anything like T.R.
He'd go after the very people he's giving massive handjobs to. But he won't. Just like Obama didn't either. Or any other president since Ronnie Raygun.
Modern education is little more than toeing the line for the capitalist pigs.
Guerrilla Liberalism won't liberate the US or the world from the iron fist of capital.
T.R. was McKinley’s imperialist veep when the U.S. seized Hawaii
https://caucus99percent.com/comment/289185#comment-289185
So of course Teddy Roosevelt’s name and “Rough Riders” appellation adorn what was Honolulu’s leading public high school under the so-called “English standard system” (= segregation based on ability to speak standard English versus “pidgin” English / Hawaiian Creole English).
To actually unwind U.S. racism in Hawaii would involve restoring Hawaii’s independence — not just going along with yet another bullshit media campaign, this time about statues and Trump.
@lotlizard TR was a horrible
TR was a horrible shithead to anyone who wasn't currently American. An imperialist warmongering bastard.
At the same time, he was (mostly) a loyal, sound leader for people who were currently American, and he was oddly free of the classism I'd expect him, as an aristocrat, to have. He did not subscribe to the "rich Americans can do whatever they want and the rest of Americans can like it or lump it" philosophy. At all.
He didn't have to fight with the mining companies, or with Wall St, but he did.
I do not think American lives matter more than other lives, so he's on my shit list. But that doesn't mean I disagree with his trustbusting or his threat to nationalize the mining corporations if they wouldn't strike a deal with their workers.
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
More from TR
“I don’t go so far as to think that the only good Indians are dead Indians, but I believe nine out of 10 are, and I shouldn’t like to inquire too closely into the case of the 10th.”
— Theodore Roosevelt
https://www.counterpunch.org/2017/08/18/america-asleep/
@aliasalias I should make
I should make clear that when I say "American" I mean what TR would think of as "American." It would be more likely to include an Italian immigrant who had recently attained citizenship than an indigenous person.
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
Well there was the "new beginning"
suggested in Margaret Atwood's Maddaddam trilogy, in which a mad scientist creates a new human race of innocuous, genetically-engineered gentle souls, and then invents a plague which wipes out the old human race... but I gather that's not what you or Tracy Chapman had in mind...
“When there's no fight over programme, the election becomes a casting exercise. Trump's win is the unstoppable consequence of this situation.” - Jean-Luc Melanchon
@Cassiodorus re-read that trilogy
re-read that trilogy three times so far....best recent dystopian work from the amazing Ms. Atwood. Highly recommended!
I should have died
decades ago. Seems I missed my chance.
Seriously, this essay sparks a connection in my mind to the recent report that sperm count in the West has dropped by 60 (or was it 40?)% in the last 30-50 years.
And then there's the quarter-million or so man-made compounds introduced into the environment, and with interactions among them not even a topic, let alone being studied.
As to the political elements and implications of the essay ... When the age of robots and custom designed humans fully arrives a good six billion or so will just be useless eaters. So the System is working.
Orwell: Where's the omelette?
sperm count
As I've said before, the cure for that problem is for men to eat more beans!
"US govt/military = bad. Russian govt/military = bad. Any politician wanting power = bad. Anyone wielding power = bad." --Shahryar
"All power corrupts absolutely!" -- thanatokephaloides
@thanatokephaloides
What, for added propulsion?
Psychopathy is not a political position, whether labeled 'conservatism', 'centrism' or 'left'.
A tin labeled 'coffee' may be a can of worms or pathology identified by a lack of empathy/willingness to harm others to achieve personal desires.
The good news is
it saves Social Security and Medicare a boatload of money! Then again, it also could be attributed to daddies getting college tuition bills.
the little things you can do are more valuable than the giant things you can't! - @thanatokephaloides. On Twitter @wink1radio. (-2.1) All about building progressive media.
it isn't the college involved
It isn't the college involved who are doing the dying, but those of us who need to make a real adult living without incurring those extortionate bills.
"US govt/military = bad. Russian govt/military = bad. Any politician wanting power = bad. Anyone wielding power = bad." --Shahryar
"All power corrupts absolutely!" -- thanatokephaloides
plenty of people with college loans are
barely making ends meet, working retail and restaurant and whatever else they can get. its been 35 years since earning a bachelor's degree was a guarantee of a decent white-collar job, and probably 25 years since having a bachelor's degree and a decent white-collar job was any kind of guarantee that you'd still have a decent white-collar job 5 years down the road.
The earth is a multibillion-year-old sphere.
The Nazis killed millions of Jews.
On 9/11/01 a Boeing 757 (AA77) flew into the Pentagon.
AGCC is happening.
If you cannot accept these facts, I cannot fake an interest in any of your opinions.
PS -- and also, plenty of folks of whatever
employment stripe, struggling to get by, still think college is the best bet for their kids, and are still stressing themselves out over how to pay for it.
The earth is a multibillion-year-old sphere.
The Nazis killed millions of Jews.
On 9/11/01 a Boeing 757 (AA77) flew into the Pentagon.
AGCC is happening.
If you cannot accept these facts, I cannot fake an interest in any of your opinions.
Die fighting. Because what else is there? n/t
Recreation is now "a privelege" in poorest California county
Lake County is one of the poorest in Northern California, lots of disabled and retired people on fixed incomes. Army Corps: Lake Mendocino recreation a privilege
Going fishing for food or relaxation is now a privilege, according to a Federal talking head. Never ever thought I'd live to see the day government is packed full of insane petty little tyrants, all wrapped up in their gated mentalities. California looks regressive and pathetic in its old age. Truth hurts.
So don't even try. "That's the system." "We're capitalists."
Kill me now!
Now now NOW!
Can't wait for the Nazis in Berkeley next. Maybe Bay Area cops will grow some nads. hahahahaahahaha! Nope.
US Army Corps of Engineers
Yet the Corps has a legal monopoly on creation of reservoirs on the main stems of most American rivers, with the right to prohibit or restrict the creation of reservoirs on the tributaries as well. Even the Federal Bureau of Reclamation has to answer to them!
Gak!
"US govt/military = bad. Russian govt/military = bad. Any politician wanting power = bad. Anyone wielding power = bad." --Shahryar
"All power corrupts absolutely!" -- thanatokephaloides
Lake Mendocino is not in Lake County :-|
lol that sure was a knee jerk post by me. It is Clear Lake in Lake County, and I am beside myself about the lack of services over there too right now. It is the same Army Corps everywhere, same same.
Should there even be a Lake Mendocino? Nope. I am for tearing out the BigAg, restoring the fisheries. Let it flood? Maybe. The article also says they lose money because citizens rob the iron rangers, because they can't afford real rangers. The Emerald Triangle are not being generous. I guess Trump's circular answer would be armored-up rangers, or maybe ranger drones to make civilian pink dust. Thanks Obama. I cannot think of Smarmy's kids without next thinking of pink dust. He has ruined my peace-filled fairy fantasies forever, the war mongering bastard.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Mendocino
LOL wtf? army.mil: Coyote Valley Dam, Lake Mendocino
D-Value! No wonder. I just have to laugh.
good luck
Nazis
Where do you think the original Nazis rose from?
Was it not the failure of the capitalist system to provide workable livelihoods for the workers in Germany?
Marx was right; history does repeat itself, the first time as tragedy, the second time as farce.
"US govt/military = bad. Russian govt/military = bad. Any politician wanting power = bad. Anyone wielding power = bad." --Shahryar
"All power corrupts absolutely!" -- thanatokephaloides
The onerous terms of the World War I "peace"
paved the way for the Hitler turd.
Supposedly, only those who do not know their history
are doomed torepeat it. Yet, people who knew about Vietnam, like deserter Bush 43 and five-deferment Darth Cheney, mired us in Iraq and Afghanistan anyway, with votes from both Democrats and Republicans in Congress. Even conscientious objector Bernie voted for bombing Afghanistan. Well, at least we knew to get out fast this time.
What? We're still there? Seriously?
never mind.
And being mired in Middle Eastern wars is no farce.
@thanatokephaloides Back in the day,
Back in the day, nations were still a thing, so nationalism of a particularly shitty kind also helped (it's a cliche, but Versailles was a stupid, crap agreement based on revenge rather than statecraft).
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
Why do you think there's so much news coverage of Nazis today?
I mean, Boston has like 5-10,000 counter protesters today vs an estimated 20-100 right wingers. Yes, I said 20-100.
There was a somewhat larger protest by the same right wing groups in spring and it got zero coverage.
Obviously there's an agenda, and part of it is to discredit claims of white genocide by associating them with Nazis.
Nazis...
are the new Russians. A perfect distraction to take our little minds off decent wages, Medicare for All, corporate thievery, etc.
@edg And the collapse of
And the collapse of the Russia story under the weight of evidence.
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
IMO, this is one reason why increases in the cost of food are
not reflected in the cost of living adjustment calculations for Social Security.
After all, the better they eat, the healthier they may be; the healthier they may be, the longer they may live. The longer they may live, the more cost to Social Security and Medicare.
And remember, boys and girls, inflation nothwithstanding, chained CPI is not a cut to Social Security. The one time majority leader, now minority leader, of House Democrats said so, to cya Obama and House Democrats. Therefore, it's true. It's right there in the Bible, in the Book of DemExodus.
"When they want you to die for profit
they will let you know."
"The Mad Farmer Liberation Front"
Wendell Berry
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
Human Resources Are a Cost, Not a Benefit, to Corporate.
Not at all surprised to hear this morally repugnant argument coming from the business press.
“Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat.” ~ Sun Tzu
IMHO, the biggest driver of increased white mortality
is the loss of hope. Without hope, you use whatever drug you can to blunt the sadness of futility. If drinking yourself into a daily stupor, mainlining opiates or whatever drug you're using doesn't work, you blow your brains out.
When jobs are sent abroad, hope goes along with them. Pure capitalism is an inherently cold and evil system, it must be made to not only reward it's winners but also take care of it's losers.
The real SparkyGump has passed. It was an honor being your human.
Marxism is a good remedy for despair.
You'll still get screwed but at least you know who's doing it. And you realize that it's not all your fault. And you can understand there is no reason to be self-destructive.
Life is strong. I'm weak, but Life is strong.
Excellent comment
particularly this part.
The big problem with our system is that it is based upon winners and losers. Once all the safeguards were removed to protect the working classes, we have seen the rapid hollowing out of what was once the middle class. No one has ever really cared about the poor. So why not just create a larger class of poor people for no one to care about? I believe this is the philosophy of the oligarchal class who believe in their own meritocracy and the rest of us be damned. We are just throw away cogs in their system.
Do I hear the sound of guillotines being constructed?
“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." ~ President John F. Kennedy
Thank you.
The real SparkyGump has passed. It was an honor being your human.
Who are the brain police?
Maybe I ought to rehabilitate my old quote from Margaret Atwood: "Sooner or later, I hate to break it to you, you're gonna die, so how do you fill in the space between here and there? It's yours. Seize your space."
“When there's no fight over programme, the election becomes a casting exercise. Trump's win is the unstoppable consequence of this situation.” - Jean-Luc Melanchon