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More Foreclosures and Suicides than During the Great Depression
The San Francisco Chronicle notes that it is difficult to keep track of foreclosure rates now … let alone during the Great Depression:
Foreclosure rates of the late 2000s are often compared with those of the Great Depression, which took place through the first half of the 1930s. However, there were no public or private agencies keeping track of foreclosure rates at that time. Indeed, the government still does not keep an official statistic on the number of homes in foreclosure or repossessed by banks and lenders.
But the Chronicle provides estimates of foreclosures during the 1930s:
A 2008 article by David C. Wheelock, an economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, cited annual reports issued by the Federal Home Loan Bank Board during the 1930s. These reports reveal that the foreclosure rate exceeded 1 percent from 1931 until 1935. At the worst point in the Depression-era economic crisis, in 1933, about 1,000 home loans were being placed in foreclosure by banks every day.
How does that compare to the last 5 years?
RealtyTrac notes (via North Carolina State University) that:
From January 2007 to December 2011 there were more than four million completed foreclosures and more than 8.2 million foreclosure starts ….
CoreLogic reported a year ago:
Approximately 1.4 million homes, or 3.4 percent of all homes with a mortgage, were in the national foreclosure inventory as of May 2012 compared to 1.5 million, or 3.5 percent, in May 2011 and 1.4 million, or 3.4 percent, in April 2012. The foreclosure inventory is the share of all mortgaged homes in some stage of the foreclosure process.
Given that there are currently around 316 million Americans – more than twice the number during the Great Depression – such high foreclosure rates mean that there may well be as many people suffering foreclosure than during the Great Depression … or more.
And NBC News reported this month:
Already some 5 million homes have been lost to foreclosure; estimates of future foreclosures range widely. [Moody's Analytics chief economist Mark Zandi], who has followed the mortgage mess since the housing market began to crack in 2006, figures foreclosures will strike another three million homes in the next three or four years.
For more comparisons of the Great Depression and today, see:
More Americans Committing Suicide than During the Great Depression
Suicide rates are tied to the economy.
The Boston Globe reported in 2011:
A new report issued today by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention finds that the overall suicide rate rises and falls with the state of the economy — dating all the way back to the Great Depression.
The report, published in the American Journal of Public Health, found that suicide rates increased in times of economic crisis: the Great Depression (1929-1933), the end of the New Deal (1937-1938), the Oil Crisis (1973-1975), and the Double-Dip Recession (1980-1982). Those rates tended to fall during strong economic times — with fast growth and low unemployment — like right after World War II and during the 1990s.
During the depths of the Great Depression, suicide rates in America significantly increased. As the Globe notes:
The largest increase in the US suicide rate occurred during the Great Depression surging from 18 in 100,000 up to 22 in 100,000 …
We’ve previously pointed out that suicide rates have skyrocketed recently:
The number of deaths by suicide has also surpassed car crashes, and many connect the increase in suicides to the downturn in the economy. Around 35,000 Americans kill themselves each year (and more American soldiers die by suicide than combat; the number of veterans committing suicide is astronomical and under-reported). So you’re 2,059 times more likely to kill yourself than die at the hand of a terrorist.
NBC News reported in March:
Suicide rates are up alarmingly among middle-aged Americans, according to the latest federal government statistics.
They show a 28 percent rise in suicide rates for people aged 35 to 64 between 1999 and 2010.
RT reports:
In a letter to The Lancet medical journal, scientists from Britain, Hong Kong and United States said an analysis of data from Centers for Disease Control and Prevention indicated that while suicide rates increased slowly between 1999 and 2007, the rate of increase more than quadrupled from 2008 to 2010, Reuters reported.
Earlier this month, NY Daily News wrote:
The Great Recession may have been at the root of a great depression that caused suicides to soar among middle-aged Americans, a government report speculates.
The annual suicide rate for adults ages 35 to 64 spiked in the past decade, according to a study from the U.S. Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention.
And a shaky economy that nose-dived into the worst financial crisis since the Depression may be the biggest reason why.
***
The CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report said the annual suicide rate jumped 28.4% from 1999-2010.
It was the biggest increase of any age group, said the CDC, citing “the recent economic downturn” as one of the “possible contributing factors” for the increase.
“Historically, suicide rates tend to correlate with business cycles, with higher rates observed during times of economic hardship,” the report said.
David Stuckler (a senior research leader in sociology at Oxford), and Sanjay Basu (an assistant professor of medicine and an epidemiologist in the Prevention Research Center at Stanford), write in the New York Times:
The correlation between unemployment and suicide has been observed since the 19th century.
(And see these articles by the Wall Street Journal and the Los Angeles Times. This is obviously true world-wide. For example, last year the New York Times reported:
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.”
***
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. 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.)
Indeed, more Americans are killing themselves today than during the Great Depression. Specifically, there were were 123 million Americans in 1930. The maximum suicide rate during the depths of the Great Depression was 22 out of 100,000 Americans. That means that up to 27,060 Americans killed themselves each year.
In contrast, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control reports that 38,364 Americans committed suicide in 2010. In other words, 2010 suicides were approximately 142% of suicides during the depths of the Great Depression. (The suicide rate is lower today than during the Great Depression, but – given that there are more Americans – there are more suicides each year.)
The head of my local county’s mental health services confirmed to me today that there are now more suicides now than during the Great Depression.
The Root Causes: Unemployment and Foreclosure
Why do more people kill themselves during severe downturns? It’s not just a downturn in the business cycle in some general sense. It’s more specific than that.
Unemployment and foreclosure are the largest triggers in increased suicide risk.
David Stuckler and Sanjay Basu write:
People looking for work are about twice as likely to end their lives as those who have jobs.
***
Unemployment is a leading cause of depression, anxiety, alcoholism and suicidal thinking.
ABC News points out:
“Joblessness is a risk factor for suicide,” said Nadine Kaslow, professor of psychology in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Emory University in Atlanta. “The stress is just overwhelming. … People are freaked out.”
Bloomberg reports:
“The suicide rate started accelerating in 2008, 2009 and 2010 — someone might still be working, but their house is underwater, or they’re working but they’re working part-time,” Eric Caine, the director of the CDC’s Injury Control Research Center for Suicide Prevention, said by telephone. “These things ripple into families. There’s an economic stress.”
NY Daily News writes:
“Most people who commit suicide tend to suffer from major depression, and this vulnerability tends to be brought forth by very stressful situations like losing one’s home or job,” [Dr. Dan Iosifescu, director of mood and anxiety disorders program at Mount Sinai Hospita] said.
NBC News reports:
The American Association for Suicidology says economic recessions don’t normally affect suicide rates.
“Although US suicide rates did increase slightly during the years of the Great Depression, reaching a peak rate of 17.4/100,000 in 1933, subsequent US recessions have not been found to lead to increased national rates of suicide in the period of or immediately following each recession,” the group says.
The latest numbers suggest suicide rates for middle-aged Americans now surpass the peak during the Depression. And there’s another possible explanation.
“There is a clear and direct relationship between rates of unemployment and suicide,” the suicidology group says in its statement.
“The peak rate of suicide in 1933 occurred one year after the total US unemployment rate reached 25 percent of the labor force. Similar findings have been documented internationally. At the individual level, unemployed individuals have between two and four times the suicide rate of those employed.”
The group also raises concern about the home foreclosure rate.
Indeed, it is likely that more people have lost their jobs during this “Great Recession” than during the Great Depression … especially when you look at the masses of people who have given up altogether and dropped out of the work force.
And it is possible that more people have lost their homes through foreclosure than during the Great Depression as well.
No wonder there are so many suicides …
Postscript: If you suffer from depression, this may help.
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While I could provide a sarcastic response I am frankly tired of the invective so prevalent on the net. Suffice it to say that you have missed my point.
Indeed, and your original post was brilliant. I kept wondering where it would go off the rails and it just kept barreling on, on point start to finish.
Even the people most dissatisfied with modern life are often happier than those around them because they have a purpose, even if it is only preparing for things to break down completely. And they are happier still if their purpose is animated by love. Look at all the people who have everything the modern world has to offer and are miserable, then consider all of those who have very little in worldly terms but are happy - the latter have love, which in and of itself gives them purpose.
As to the idea that looking outside yourself for purpose means you cannot think critically, that is translatable into: if you don't think that you are essentially God, you are an idiot. All greater purpose - and thus contentment and happiness - is found outside of oneself, or exists for the sake of things/people outside of oneself.
Depressions are so fucking.....depressing.
Unless you're a 1%er seeing your stock holdings jump 100% every couple weeks.
I guess the Tesla is the new Deusenberg.
WOW, THAT WAS A TESSIE!!!
It is sad because so many have been brained washed into believing that the government is the answer, and not the problem.
Try writing about this in any mainstream venue and the comments fill up with:
Even when you give readers a trail of breadcrumbs on the massive fraud, it's like they don't even read it (confirmation bias I guess). I stopped writing about it a while ago, as my own Attorney General (Martha Coakley) sold out like everyone else, even with the backing of multiple case law to go after TBTF's foreclosure fraud.
In 1999, when the repeal of Glass/Stegal was signed into law it had sweeping effects throughout the financial sector. Combined with de-regulation in the form of just not regulating, the unstated implication was that the tax payer would now be the back stop for wall street, essentially turning free markets into non-free markets. Up until then, wall street had a closed "freeway" with multiple lanes and controlled exit and entry points. They had freedom to move around but remained on the highway. After the repeal, the freeway disappeared over night and wall street blazed their own path until....dun dun don. Well, they still blaze their own path.
But the individuals ability to pay their mortgage is not directly related to the massive fraud perpetrated. People can't pay their mortgages for many reasons some out of their control, some not. But they are responsible at the end of the day. You could make an argument for an indirect cause. Maybe that's what you're doing. I think it's a mistake to think wall street was the only one out of control.
When an institution, at the behest of your government, states do this, in exchange for that, because we're trying to help you, then doesn't, including filing false forged & perjured documents, your rationalization is that it's the borrowers fault?
The People that should never have been homeowners to begin with get what they deserve.
The People that got wiped out by no fault of their own, including losing their job, but working at fucking McDonald's to try and do the right thing to support their families and keep their home, then lied to in order to take their home, and you're going to justify that?
FUCK YOU. If you're connected to this practice, you should be hanging from a fucking lamppost.
*No, I am not a victim of foreclosure fraud
No where in what I wrote did I justify fraud nor condemn anyone.
When an institution, at the behest of your government, states do this, in exchange for that, because we're trying to help you, then doesn't, including filing false forged & perjured documents, your rationalization is that it's the borrowers fault?
I didn't rationalize anything. The borrower is not responsible for fraud perpetrated by private or public institutions.
Sub prime mortgages more often than not were marketed to people who probably couldn't afford to own a home; the very people we are talking about. Their ability to pay a mortgage is not connected to the fraud. Two different things. An individuals ability to pay is connected to job status, salary and life situation. With the exception of those that profited wildly off of this, we all abhor what the mortgage industry, Federal Government and banks did but that doesn't mean sub prime borrowers, a risky contract to sign, gets off blameless. They get the appropriate amount of blame, which is small, for creating the sub prime mess.
People are getting it - but they realize as well there is little they can do. The goons have already been hired and trained. Even a peaceful protest can get you mauled by the state. And there is no where to flee to like before when government went mad.
If you are considering killing yourself on account of professional criminals, kill the right person. Duh.
The Greed Jihad has many victims.
I love how the talking heads keep saying, "if you need help, use this to find a therapist".
Uh, therapists cost money? The healthcare sector has been malicious with extortion and the cost of primary care, which is a proven cause of suicide. I say, just give us some nice ideas on how to go through with it without suffering anymore pain.
Pharamaceuticals vending machines are the answer!
SPX500
1666.6 as I type.
Wait until they're exceedingly popular...and then load em up with hot shots.
And forever be blacklisted on every US medical database for having answered "Yes" to the "have you ever been treated for Depression" question. Forget about ever getting health insurance, life insurance, or a job after that.
Does it count if I only self-medicated?
That's when you play like .gov and answer "I don't recall" or better yet "I'll have to get back to you on that".
Mutterings at the Whitehouse "One less mouth to feed"
Obama: "I am outraged about this statistic that has just come to my attention. I vow to find those responsible and bring them to justice. It is unfair for any American to live in fear and be unfairly targeted."
Aid: "Uh, sir. I'm pretty sure you and your administration are responsible. How did you not hear of this?"
Obama: "YOU KNOW I WAS O THE GOLF COURSE, you expect me to watch the news or read? That's not my job."
...it's above the shit-eating big earred douchebags pay grade...
oh wait....
Too bad we do not have an expert who studied the Great Depression , so we would not be in a Greater Depression today.
Wasn't there a guy, what's his name, oh Bernanke, who proclaimed himself an expert who studied the Great Depression? How many suicides did he prevent?
His own, unfortunately
Perhaps it's just a matter of interpretation...except less "death by cop" than "death by angry mob".
..negative 1%..
No down arrow, but gonna disagree with your statement. Greed, crony capitalism and a dumbed down electorate who can no longer think for themselves are IMHO, the main reasons we are where we are.
Gird your loins people as the worst is probably yet to come...
The gods of the copy book headings are speaking...
http://www.starvingthemonkeys.com/
I've been saying for years that the ripping away of "normalicy bias" and the utter shock that it will impose on many in lala land has and will continue to kill lots of our mates, moreso than criminals, food shortages, civil unrest or "police actions".
Living beyond means, the crazy thing about this whole thing is that the people most prepared for what is to come are those living in the 3rd world, already fending for themselves. There is hope out there though, people NEED to start thinking about life for a short to medium term without paper money quickly facilitating trade, things need to slow down...too many resouces being wasted too quickly leads to a demise of FIAT, debt based monetary models...the model is evolving and we are living in crazy times but there is hope and that hope derives from collaboration and helping one another out.
it's funny, and a lot of folks have written about this. As I "simplify" my life and slow down and grow a garden and talk to the kids in the neighborhood and help neighbors build a garden bed or a greenhouse, something weird happens, I actually enjoy my work. THese bastards win if you think they can control your happiness.
and when you get bored with that, there's always a exciting career waiting in Cat burglary !!!
Now where the hell am I gonna be able to fence a cat when people can just walk into the shelter and get one for free?
+1 Spot on DaveyJones. I totally agree. This has been my experience too.
Just try thinking about life without electricity and see how the entire system comes crashing down in a blink.
...or water, or fertilizer, or...
It all starts with "honey, how long has the power been out? And what's with all the police sirens?"
If the spent fuel pools at nuke sites around the world don't have the human, mechanical and energy inputs they need, higher life on earth comes crashing down in a generation.
Can't provide auxiliary power sources for the spent fuel rod cooling ponds. It would cost something like $3 billion, about the same as a border fence. No money in the budget for it. Welcome to cuckooland.
The CDC link for the 2010 suicides is this http://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/pdf/suicide-datasheet-a.PDF.
The hyperlink in the article wasn't working.
Thanks ... html coding error.
Very sad. Hope & Change. Pathetically - all the news media sources you cite are part of it. F TV and F Hollywood plus all the media. These F'ers enabled this crap with their friends the banksters.
"Hi honey, how was you're day in congress?"
"Great. But I'll be late getting home, I've got dinner with my banker friends."
Ughh.
Its as unsettling as someone who looks like the guy in that year book pic at my door to take my daughter out on a date.
Wow.
Very sobering. I hope things get better but I don't think they will. Really sad.
That isn't completely the fault of government - business has their hand in it as well.
I am in CT. Check the property taxes here and how much they want for you to contribute. We also have property taxes on cars, boats, bikes, etc. The state uses some book that I am not aware to tell me how much my 10 year car is worth. 3X of market value.
This IS completely the fault of the Government.
A Government that is based on theft and murder.
Theft because FIAT money is counterfeit.
Murder because of continual war for the benefit of the banksters.
I can't give you a thumbs down. THe government enabled an economic riptide against the American people. They have a monopoly of power, you act like the U.S. is some sort of republic capitalistic country or something. It's far from it.
Once done with Invisible Hand, try "Road to Serfdom" - the playbook of how government chokes us down to zero.
Damn fucking right it's the government - they write the legislation that made this bloody mess.