A nihilistic culture of death is to blame. People have experienced much worst economically in times past, but when the moral fabric is not just torn, but removed, there is nothing to reassure oneself with.
Nihlism, self worship, materialism no God.
Many people simply see no role for themselves in the future - be they young people unable to accept that they’ll have a lower standard of living due to globalism & socialism, or older people booted from their “before-times” jobs simply unable to maintain the standard of living they had. Since so many have no religious reason to turn from suicide, they remove themselves from the picture. Here in NJ plenty of people are walking in front of trains as our economic death spiral continues; we just elected a new governor who promised before the election to raise taxes on the highest-taxed population in the country.