Increasingly in Europe, Suicides ‘by Economic Crisis’

New York Times ^ | April 14, 2012 | ELISABETTA POVOLEDO and DOREEN CARVAJAL

[lbryce]

On New Year’s Eve, Antonio Tamiozzo, 53, hanged himself in the warehouse of his construction business near Vicenza, after several debtors did not pay what they owed him.

Three weeks earlier, Giovanni Schiavon, 59, a contractor, shot himself in the head at the headquarters of his debt-ridden construction company on the outskirts of Padua. As he faced the bleak prospect of ordering Christmas layoffs at his family firm of two generations, he wrote a last message: “Sorry, I cannot take it anymore.”

The economic downturn that has shaken Europe for the last three years has also swept away the foundations of once-sturdy lives, leading to an alarming spike in suicide rates. Especially in the most fragile nations like Greece, Ireland and Italy, small-business owners and entrepreneurs are increasingly taking their own lives in a phenomenon some European newspapers have started calling “suicide by economic crisis.”

Many, like Mr. Tamiozzo and Mr. Schiavon, have died in obscurity. Others, like the desperate 77-year-old retiree who shot himself outside the Greek Parliament on April 4, have turned their personal despair into dramatic public expressions of anger at the leaders who have failed to soften the blows of the crisis.

A complete picture of the phenomenon across Europe is elusive, as some countries lag in reporting statistics and coroners are loath to classify deaths as suicides, to protect surviving family members. But it is clear that countries on the front line of the economic crisis are suffering the worst, and that suicides among men have increased the most.

In Greece, the suicide rate among men increased more than 24 percent from 2007 to 2009, government statistics show. In Ireland during the same period, suicides among men rose more than 16 percent.

[lbryce]

FTA:In Italy, suicides motivated by economic difficulties have increased 52 percent, to 187 in 2010 — the most recent year for which statistics were available — from 123 in 2005. Researchers say the trend has intensified this year as government austerity measures took hold and compounded the hardships for many. While suicides often have many complex causes, researchers have found that severe economic stress corresponds to higher suicide rates.

So, now, to paraphrase some silly internet meme, the sh*t is real. Up until now, the only consequences wrought by the megalomaniac bureaucrats of the EU seemed strictly political but now the financial chickens are coming home to roost in a devastatingly individual, personal way. And that's what angers me most. That these sad stories of human misery, failure didn't necessarily have to happen. The bankrupt schemes of European fantasists like France's Charles Chirac conjuring up this cockamamie conspiracy otherwise known as the EU, were driven by power, corruption, visions of megalomaniac grandeur, not the least of which was to challenge, surpass the US globally, look at how Airbus usurped our seemingly unassailable aeronautical supremacy, have not come close to seeing the consequences of their actions ending anytime soon.

It's always been that way throughout history, where economic crises inevitably victimize those lacking the financial, emotional resources to cope to the ultimate extreme. And when, not if, but when, the inevitable comes knocking on our door, consequences won't be any different.

[bgill]

Expect more such ‘29 US Stock Market Crash type suicides on both sides of the pond.

[heye2monn]

All of Western Europe is committing suicide. A shrinking, graying, socialist, sclerotic colossus cannot live off past glories forever.

[EGPWS]

Wow, what has happened in Greece and the European countries?

Aren't the governments confiscating enough from the earners of wealth to take care of them any more?

[fluorescence]

Liberalism kills.

[Tublecane]

That’s not suicide “by” crisis, unless they’re suffocating themselves under stacks of bank statements. No, what you mean is suicide because of or due to economic crisis.

[yldstrk]

some men are such wusses

[txrefugee]

Suicide caused by voting for “cradle to grave” government largess is inevitable.

[newzjunkey]

I’d like to know the stats in Obama’s America. I hadn’t heard of as many local murder-suicides of whole families, citing financial hardship, as I’ve heard during his administration. If a Republican was in the White House, the press would be running with the “callous” storyline.

[kabar]

We are witnessing the collapse of the welfare state, which is unsustainable. I blame the public most of all for supporting the scam by electing the public officals who made promises they can't keep. The same thing is happening here.

Each country had to vote on entering the EU. I don't consider the people to be victims, but collaborators and enablers. Let's affix blame where it really belongs.

[lbryce]

I don’t know specifics but I do recall reading years ago that the US suicide rate remained remarkably stable, unchanged from year to year with approximately 32,000 suicides per year. I would qualify that by assuming the rate of 32,0000 per year were recorded in times of affluence, strong economic environment as they were since the 1950’s. I would have to assume the figure would increase in relation to the severity of the particular economic conditions for the time period.

[lbryce]

30,088 USA suicide deaths per year according to Wolfram Alpha Computational Knowledge Engine

USA Annual Suicide Deaths:Wolfram Alpha Computational Knowledge Engine

[redgolum]

There will be a war. States can’t resist them in times of economic peril.