I think though this also has to do with the break up of the family, general change in values and the “ME” generation, loss of religious affiliations.
Sure, there are people who are in such bad situations, but this is not the Great depression and a 50% rate in Oregon? there is more to this than “hard times.”
There was a recent analysis that cited examples of people having $200/month and larger cell phone bills, spinner rims for their cars, jet skis, and the like, but not providing other basic things for themselves. Actually I was guilty of the same thing for a brief time in college. Had all kinds of money for fancy audio equipment - but got caught short for rent, tuition, and food. Fortunately was able to recover from it (by working til 2 AM at Burger King) and learned a valuable lesson: pay for the stuff you need FIRST, and wait for the other stuff. Sadly a lot of folks are not learning that lesson soon enough these days.
How much does a burial and funeral cost...6000 dollars or more...even a cremation is 2500. Now some states can get the cost down to under 500 dollars per “unit” but the general John Q Public cannot get that kind of rate. The private “mortuary” services are going to need to drop their prices!