A hypothetical question

[TitsMcGee]

ahhh i see so basically the spouce or the parents or whomever is direct realtions to said person gets taxed?

Basically whom ever the deceased's estate will be going to, usually the next of kin.

[TheGimp]

gotcha

[Jessika Fxckin rocks (1)]

Just wondering since this country is headed in a downward spiral,can't find anything about this on google,but

here is the question..

Due to our crappy economy and stupid laws etc etc,

would our unfit government try to stop a mass suicide in this nation

lets say a 1,000 people are killing themselves a everyday,because of bullshit going on here?(job losses,losing their homes,etc etc)

I would really like to know how they could actually interfere with something like this in the first place.Jim Jones succeeded,even though it was in another country.this is just a hypothetical question thats all.

Any one in the funeral, casket, graveyard, or other businesses of that nature it might help, idk if the backlash be worth it. But really if your killing your self cause you lost your job, loseing your house, or other money issues your not helping your making it worse on your loved ones leave massive debt, and now funeral expessess. They will get depressed either get put on drugs or have to see a shrink.

[Homicidalheathen]

best response so far

that has to be one of the dumbest laws to enforse if they do that is...

lets see...Susan hung herself so since Susan broke the law were are ganna issue you a 500$ fine susan how do you like that yea... bet you wont do that agian will you...

NOW before i get yelled at wasnt poking fun at Suicide i think its terrible i knew 2 people whom killed themselves but to make it agianst the law is obsurd how can you punish the dead in any form...ticket them,? Jail them? not let them be buried? makes no sence

[pomba gira]

I believe that most westerns /and-mostly/ christians shun suicide due to the way we look at it. Most westerns /and-mostly/ christians see suicide as a sin and would rather live their miserable lives.

I agree... there is also the stigma of cowardice, where suicide is seen as "taking the easy way out" (which it isn't- overcoming the hardwired survival instinct is a major act of will). By comparison in Japan suicide is seen as the noble or honorable thing to do in some circumstances. And most of us have a very negative view of death in general... western culture has reached a point where death is seen not as the natural and inevitable end of life or as a release from suffering, but as something horrible and almost unnatural that must be avoided at all costs.

I don't think the CDC includes like the military when doing these types of studies. And that is 5 years old already so I don't think it really can be used as a reliable statistic anymore. Especially with the financial crisis thats currently happening.

Good point... 5 years ago was an entirely different situation on all kinds of levels. And now we have many, many soldiers who have served in Iraq and Afghanistan coming back with MAJOR mental health issues, and receiving little or no help. That is bound to have an effect right there, never mind the economy.

And, Gimp, laws against suicide are usually enforced when someone tries unsuccessfully to suicide. Another example of this society's love of punishing those who need help.

[TygerLili]

I suspect that laws against suicide are mostly intended to punish those who attempt it and don't succeed, though I have no idea how often those laws are actually inforced.

I'm going to keep my opinions on this topic to myself, so as not to offend anyone.

[bean]

Suicide rates since 1950 - 2003 taken from http://www.suicide.org/suicide-statistics.html#death-rates

Seems to indicate suicide is on the way down.

U.S. Suicide Rates, 1950–2003

(per 100,000 population)

1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 1995 2000 2001 2002 2003

13.2 13.2 13.2 13.2 12.5 11.8 10.4 10.7 10.9 10.8

He would be correct.

I go to conferences for my job. My most recent one was on suicide. The presenter noted that the economy does not seem to affect suicide rates.

Another interesting fact - the elderly have the highest suicide rates. Pediatric oncologists were pretty high on the list too.

[Enishi]

I can definitely see suicide rates going up, but I'm not sure how high. I don't think they would reach "apocalyptic" levels (crime, particularily in the inner cities, is a different story though).

Deaths caused by overcomsumption of vodka did hit an incredibly high level in Russia during its economic collapse in the 1990s though.

[candyman]

How would we ever determine the cause for suicide? I mean, there are so many factors that act in so many different ways. Blaming mass suicide on an economy would be like blaming cigarettes for cancer and alcohol for rape and car accidents...sure they have some influence but there is no way to tell for sure and there are millions of random variables.

This thread smells very badly of "blame the government for everything" syndrome...although I do love to say that nothing is ever my fault its simply not the case...

[st_masey]

I suppose that on the bright side that takes care of the unemployment problem.

[Nightgaunt]

I think what Mr. Hitts was getting at was speculating on what would happen if the downward economic spiral were to keep spiraling down to Great Depression (or worse) proportions. I think that the federal government would step in, but not necessarily for altruistic reasons. There are people in high places that would use a "suicide epidemic" as an excuse to implement draconian measures to further our heretofore incremental march toward a police state. In fact, I'll bet people would beg for it. It's the Hegelian Dialectic in action.

[candyman]

I think what Mr. Hitts was getting at was speculating on what would happen if the downward economic spiral were to keep spiraling down to Great Depression (or worse) proportions. I think that the federal government would step in, but not necessarily for altruistic reasons. There are people in high places that would use a "suicide epidemic" as an excuse to implement draconian measures to further our heretofore incremental march toward a police state. In fact, I'll bet people would beg for it. It's the Hegelian Dialectic in action.

It's already happening...or at least there are people trying to make it happen...

The new administration is trying to model European measures to help out economy which will make it stable...but socialist/liberal countries over there covering up some nasty byproducts...then there is Ireland, Germany, Russia, and Eastern/"new" Europe...and they are flying past the rest of Europe...funny, the countries that fought socialism are turning to it and the countries that were forced to be socialist are turning away from it...

Not trying to get into an economic debate or something, but, didn't we break away from some country Europe for a reason? Like, some country was telling us what was good and what wasn't good for us and was taking as much money from us as possible because "they knew better"...

[Nightgaunt]

didn't we break away from some country Europe for a reason? Like, some country was telling us what was good and what wasn't good for us and was taking as much money from us as possible because "they knew better"...

Preach on, brotha.

[Troy Spiral (13)]

Having sat through hours of discussion on this subject over the fourth months in the hospital something like the following sums up the current thinking:

..experts have been split about whether suicides overall are really on the rise. Empirically, [read, from any actual FACTS not just "feelings" based on personal experience.]it's too early to tell, because national statistics for 2008 won't be available for another three years. But given the preliminary data and historical trends, health experts do fear that the recession's toxic mix of stressors—unemployment and home foreclosure—will be reflected in the nation's suicide rate.

Historically, the suicide rate has been linked to the unemployment rate rather than the stock market, investment frauds, or other financial phenomenon, says Dr. Lenny Berman, executive director of the American Association of Suicidology.

During the Great Depression, for example, the peak unemployment rate, 25 percent, coincided with an increase in the suicide rate. As joblessness spread, 17 persons for every 100,000 in the population took their own lives, up from 14 before the Depression. (According to the Center for Disease Control, the suicide rate for 2005, the latest year this information is available, was 11 persons for every 100,000, or a total of 32,637 deaths.)

"Any time there is a significant life stress that threatens the every day functioning of an individual and their ability to cope there is always an increase in the risk of suicidal thinking and behavior," said Dr. Berman.

"In general," he added, "we will expect to see an increased rate of suicide if the recession is prolonged. The Great Depression had a great affect on unemployment and suicide. Subsequent recessions were not as lengthy and did not have the same observable affect on suicide. This current recess threatens to be longer than any recession we've had since the Great Depression." But to say that it WILL do the same in this current situation is unscientific as there is just not enough data as yet.

[candyman]

I love how we have to linke everything to one single cause...

Like cigarettes to cancer...

Or alcohol to being awesome...

Or guns to violence...

Or video games and music to violence...

Hey, I should just commit suicide and blame it on something besides the economy just to fuck up the stats...I shall leave a not saying that since Magnum P.I. is off the air for good now that there is no reason to live...

[Nightgaunt]

I shall leave a not saying that since Magnum P.I. is off the air for good now that there is no reason to live...

I was despondent over that for a long time, but then they released the whole series on DVD!

[candyman]

I was despondent over that for a long time, but then they released the whole series on DVD!

I just pissed myself...

Well, what else can I use and an excuse to kill myself besides the economy which isn't really phasing me at all...um...oh they keep playing reruns of the crappy show Friends on TV here...that is a good reason to kill myself...