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"The Lives of Others" is an interesting German film about several aspects of East German society before the Fall of the Berlin Wall. The plot line involves a w

"The Lives of Others" is an interesting German film about several aspects of East German society before the Fall of the Berlin Wall. The plot line involves a writer who exposes the hidden suicide epidemic (which we can interpret as a signal of the failure of the communist authoritarian system), and is targeted by the STASI in response. The author of this piece is writing something similar, but doesn't really grasp what aspects of the American system created the economic dystopia of 'flyover country' - but it began in the late 1970s, expanded through the 1980s, hit its stride in the 1990s and achieved total dominion in the 2000's, and it's called neoliberal economic policy - i.e. the elimination of nation-state controls on capital flows, the removal of well-paid manufacturing jobs to Mexico, China, Indonesia, India, the import of cheap labor to fill jobs in agriculture and construction that couldn't be outsourced (using tactics like dumping US agribusiness output in Mexico to drive small farmers into poverty). I mean, there's a reason we have something called 'The Rust Belt' stretching across mid-America, there's a reason the streets are filled with homeless encampments, and it's not because of moral breakdown or class-vs-identity politics, it's because of the trade and economic policies implemented by financial oligarchs and their paid-off politicians.

1234letshaveatw 4y ago
The trade and economic policies have facilitated a massive transfer of wealth to the enclaves surrounding DC. We've basically created our own Coruscant.
the_only_law 4y ago
> the elimination of nation-state controls on capital flows, the removal of well-paid manufacturing jobs to Mexico, China, Indonesia, India, the import of cheap labor to fill jobs in agriculture and construction that couldn't be outsourced Woah now, but people were telling me just yesterday that all these people who lost their jobs found new high paying jobs.
simple-thoughts 4y ago
If neoliberalism was the cause, why didn’t other neoliberal economies develop the same problem?
- harvey9 4y ago
  How do you know they didn't?
  - barry-cotter 4y ago
    Among major economies the US is the only one besides South Korea where suicide rates have increased since 1997. See graph[1] from this paywalled story [2]. More impressionistically the Irish, British and Australian press don’t talk about deaths of despair. Less impressionistically there’s no evidence for them outside the the US[3]. > 'Deaths of despair' on the rise in the US: Why here and not in other nations? > Mortality rates in the United States have increased, with suicide and poisoning by alcohol and drugs significantly contributing to the increase, alongside the cardiovascular effects of rising obesity. The causes of despair-related deaths involve factors such as increased isolation and people’s attempts to use substances to satisfy a lack of dopamine in the brain. Some experts suggest that the United States should look at how other countries support the human life cycle and adopt these policies to help prevent despair-related deaths. [1]https://www.bing.com/images/search?view=detailV2&ccid=pmpwebNk&id=098C9CADEF08772563E002B5AC5C67E02A36C13D&thid=OIP.pmpwebNkSSktdA1N2ysHPwHaJ6&mediaurl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.economist.com%2Fsites%2Fdefault%2Ffiles%2Fimagecache%2F640-width%2Fimages%2Fprint-edition%2F20181124_IRC811.png&cdnurl=https%3A%2F%2Fth.bing.com%2Fth%2Fid%2FR.a66a7079b36449292d740d4ddb2b073f%3Frik%3DPcE2KuBnXKy1Ag%26pid%3DImgRaw%26r%3D0&exph=857&expw=640&q=suicide+is+declining+almost+everywhere&simid=607990159255281067&form=IRPRST&ck=4B3D0410D483A9EA741157F6E68A24EE&selectedindex=4&vt=4&sim=11 https://www.bing.com/images/search?view=detailV2&ccid=pmpweb... [2] https://www.economist.com/international/2018/11/24/suicide-is-declining-almost-everywhere?fsrc=rss%7Cint https://www.economist.com/international/2018/11/24/suicide-i... [3] https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/deaths-of-despair-on-the-rise-in-the-us-why-here-and-not-in-other-nations https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/deaths-of-despair-...
    - harvey9 4y ago
      I don't have any confidence in Russian or Chinese public health data, and little confidence in the data from India. That said, in the case of India: at the start of the pandemic the government _asked the urban construction industry_ for their views on reinstating rail services which could enable internal migrant workers to return to their villages and thus potentially deprive industry of labour - a move which I argue puts the country closer to fascism than neoliberalism. The fact that the phrase deaths of despair has not been reused much outside the USA at best tells us something about propagation of language.
HideousKojima 4y ago
>there's a reason the streets are filled with homeless encampments Yeah, that one is called deinstitutionalization.
- giraffe_lady 4y ago
  Sure but it's not the case that the only two options are exactly "medicalized prison" and "nothing, absolutely nothing at all."
- watwut 4y ago
  And sheer lack of housing.
cafard 4y ago
The suicides in the movie were among artists, who fall into a different category.
felipemnoa 4y ago
>>I mean, there's a reason we have something called 'The Rust Belt' stretching >>across mid-America, there's a reason the streets are filled with homeless >>encampments, and it's not because of moral breakdown or class-vs-identity >>politics, Maybe you are right, but I would need more evidence that this is the case.
knodi123 4y ago
> there's a reason the streets are filled with homeless encampments I think we've pretty conclusively proven this to be false. There are several reasons the streets are filled with unhoused people. Some are so mentally ill that they can't function in society. Some have lost control of their drug addictions. Some are undocumented and don't know how to secure the things they need. And sure, some percentage are there due to trade and economic policies. There's not one tidy reason to explain the problem, and I suspect that if you start talking to the unhoused, the reason you've latched on to is not even going to be the predominant one.

1234letshaveatw 4y ago

The trade and economic policies have facilitated a massive transfer of wealth to the enclaves surrounding DC. We've basically created our own Coruscant.

the_only_law 4y ago

> the elimination of nation-state controls on capital flows, the removal of well-paid manufacturing jobs to Mexico, China, Indonesia, India, the import of cheap labor to fill jobs in agriculture and construction that couldn't be outsourced Woah now, but people were telling me just yesterday that all these people who lost their jobs found new high paying jobs.

simple-thoughts 4y ago

If neoliberalism was the cause, why didn’t other neoliberal economies develop the same problem?

harvey9 4y ago
How do you know they didn't?
- barry-cotter 4y ago
  Among major economies the US is the only one besides South Korea where suicide rates have increased since 1997. See graph[1] from this paywalled story [2]. More impressionistically the Irish, British and Australian press don’t talk about deaths of despair. Less impressionistically there’s no evidence for them outside the the US[3]. > 'Deaths of despair' on the rise in the US: Why here and not in other nations? > Mortality rates in the United States have increased, with suicide and poisoning by alcohol and drugs significantly contributing to the increase, alongside the cardiovascular effects of rising obesity. The causes of despair-related deaths involve factors such as increased isolation and people’s attempts to use substances to satisfy a lack of dopamine in the brain. Some experts suggest that the United States should look at how other countries support the human life cycle and adopt these policies to help prevent despair-related deaths. [1]https://www.bing.com/images/search?view=detailV2&ccid=pmpwebNk&id=098C9CADEF08772563E002B5AC5C67E02A36C13D&thid=OIP.pmpwebNkSSktdA1N2ysHPwHaJ6&mediaurl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.economist.com%2Fsites%2Fdefault%2Ffiles%2Fimagecache%2F640-width%2Fimages%2Fprint-edition%2F20181124_IRC811.png&cdnurl=https%3A%2F%2Fth.bing.com%2Fth%2Fid%2FR.a66a7079b36449292d740d4ddb2b073f%3Frik%3DPcE2KuBnXKy1Ag%26pid%3DImgRaw%26r%3D0&exph=857&expw=640&q=suicide+is+declining+almost+everywhere&simid=607990159255281067&form=IRPRST&ck=4B3D0410D483A9EA741157F6E68A24EE&selectedindex=4&vt=4&sim=11 https://www.bing.com/images/search?view=detailV2&ccid=pmpweb... [2] https://www.economist.com/international/2018/11/24/suicide-is-declining-almost-everywhere?fsrc=rss%7Cint https://www.economist.com/international/2018/11/24/suicide-i... [3] https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/deaths-of-despair-on-the-rise-in-the-us-why-here-and-not-in-other-nations https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/deaths-of-despair-...
  - harvey9 4y ago
    I don't have any confidence in Russian or Chinese public health data, and little confidence in the data from India. That said, in the case of India: at the start of the pandemic the government _asked the urban construction industry_ for their views on reinstating rail services which could enable internal migrant workers to return to their villages and thus potentially deprive industry of labour - a move which I argue puts the country closer to fascism than neoliberalism. The fact that the phrase deaths of despair has not been reused much outside the USA at best tells us something about propagation of language.

HideousKojima 4y ago

>there's a reason the streets are filled with homeless encampments Yeah, that one is called deinstitutionalization.

giraffe_lady 4y ago
Sure but it's not the case that the only two options are exactly "medicalized prison" and "nothing, absolutely nothing at all."
watwut 4y ago
And sheer lack of housing.

cafard 4y ago

The suicides in the movie were among artists, who fall into a different category.

felipemnoa 4y ago

>>I mean, there's a reason we have something called 'The Rust Belt' stretching >>across mid-America, there's a reason the streets are filled with homeless >>encampments, and it's not because of moral breakdown or class-vs-identity >>politics, Maybe you are right, but I would need more evidence that this is the case.

knodi123 4y ago

> there's a reason the streets are filled with homeless encampments I think we've pretty conclusively proven this to be false. There are several reasons the streets are filled with unhoused people. Some are so mentally ill that they can't function in society. Some have lost control of their drug addictions. Some are undocumented and don't know how to secure the things they need. And sure, some percentage are there due to trade and economic policies. There's not one tidy reason to explain the problem, and I suspect that if you start talking to the unhoused, the reason you've latched on to is not even going to be the predominant one.