Increasingly in Europe, Suicides ‘by Economic Crisis'

New York Times:

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.

Read the whole story at New York Times

Comments

[William1950]

07:16 PM on 04/18/2012

what i fail to understand, our economy is a human invention right? we invented something called money to enable us to trade stuff for stuff... when did we let it get away from us? when did we stop believing that we - each of us - have an inherent right to eat? to have a bed to sleep in and a roof over our heads? that we each have a right to see our children educated??
those of us who are of a conservative mind always tell me that no, it is not a right. but then they tell me they believe in a creator... and that the creator gives us all a right to own weapons... but apparently not the right to eat... I don't understand the type of thinking that allows someone to, as the song goes, turn an orphan away from the christmas dinner, send her into the cold snow to freeze while sipping on fine wine...
I don't understand why we as a race of people don't want to share our gifts with everyone.. when did we begin to view our own reality as a private world?

[Brightening]

05:25 PM on 04/16/2012

Well what can one say? Those greedy people made a right mess by wanting more and more.
People have to realize life isn't all about take and take, me and me.

[QuestionsGalore]

08:32 PM on 04/15/2012

Hey, I bought into the work ethic. Like so many others, work became the center of my life; that is, up until my work was consolidated and moved to another state. I chose to leave, but at least I had a choice. Now, so many of us don't have a choice, whether through layoffs or failing businesses. What, then, do we do when the center of our life falls apart leaving us with no viable, foreseeable solution?

Further, what do we do when the economy "refuses to work" on a global scale, as unemployment continues to rise in the Eurozone and spreads everywhere else? The economic crisis is showing us that's it time to rethink work, or more specifically, what should constitute the foundation of society, the center of our lives.

Instead of consuming more—the basis of any consumer society, we begin to see the need for a more balanced existence where everyone on the planet has all that is required for a comfortable life, minus the excesses that quickly deplete our natural resources.

Before we lose all hope, we need to rethink work and life in general. We need a reeducation, to learn how to return to a balanced life. In such a world, there will be no unemployment, as each and everyone will be happily engaged in the "business" of living a life of balance.

[engineer sci]

02:12 PM on 04/16/2012

I'm one of those who didn't have a choice, and indeed you feel our souls perfectly QuestionGalore!

Events, of such complex nature, are beginning to transpire that even the notorious 1% are rapidly losing there grip on the situation.

The world is transforming whether we like it or not. Let us hope that we all follow advisers such as yourself to a self AND mutually responsible world where such balance as you speak of can be achieved. Maybe, if so, we will like -- nay come to love -- the transformation painful as it seems now.

[Urcbub]

06:38 PM on 04/15/2012

You were also happy that your stage 4 cancer ridden mother no longer called, so a complete lack of empathy is expected from you.

[tamazul]

03:49 PM on 04/15/2012

"For as respects whoever is joined to all the living there exists confidence, - because a live dog is better off than a dead lion."

[antaeus]

03:35 PM on 04/15/2012

Is this what Goldman Sachs' Blankfein had in mind when he claimed the financial usury industry was doing "God's work"?

[realitytrumpsbull]

02:35 PM on 04/15/2012

If you kill yourself over money, either on the job, or on your own, you've gone and done Something Irrevocably Stupid, so, if you(reader) feel yourself under a lot of money pressure, reserve the right to go smell the roses and take the time you need to figure out your financial situation. Money's just a piece of paper.

[2pence]

10:24 PM on 04/15/2012

Starvation, however, is a condition often prevented by money and jobs generate money. Homelessness is not camping for fun. The author seeks your empathy in understanding a problem so a possible solution may arise.

[Linda from Deerfield]

02:16 PM on 04/15/2012

This is what conservatives want, I guess -- no safety net, no security, no recourse -- despair as national policy, just make sure that the money keeps flowing to the 1%.

[senorlou]

12:46 PM on 04/15/2012

I remember in 2000, General Wesley Clark warned that the policies of the GOP were going to make us poorer in the USA and in Europe.  He was right, and here we have some of the results.  No light at the end of this tunnel, thanks to GOP obstructionism in the US, and a Europe in shambles.  This will just go on, I'm afraid.

[realitytrumpsbull]

02:37 PM on 04/15/2012

Well, nevermind General Disaster, the real issue here is non-partisan, and has mainly to do with government levying a bunch of taxes to pay for their latest agenda-centric half-bakery. Socialism has really taken hold, not just in Europe, but here in the US as well, and it's not going to stop tomorrow.

[antaeus]

03:33 PM on 04/15/2012

The issue is certainly partisan. "Socialism" hasn't taken hold in the US; rather 30 years of tax cuts and Trickle Downerism, you mean. We didn't embrace Socialism; we surrendered to Social Darwinism.

[AllenShone]

04:02 PM on 04/15/2012

Utter rubbish. Socialism (as practiced in Europe) did not cause this crisis. Unfettered capitalism, International affairs and tax avoidance and evasion did. Give me one European country where the tenets of a strong safety net matched with responsible capitalism caused a crisis.

[ScentOpine]

12:14 PM on 04/15/2012

Meanwhile, Wall Street CEOs are partying like it's 1928.

[BettyBoop200]

12:06 PM on 04/15/2012

If we do not start standing up to the banks in this country/world we are doomed.

[paultec1]

01:02 PM on 04/15/2012

Give them the poop ! Boop !

[stephvelander]

11:55 AM on 04/15/2012

Our addiction to this false lifestyle given to us is killing us.

[Shewolf68]

11:51 AM on 04/15/2012

I liked financial crosses more when the bankers killed themselves by jumping out of their office windows; like the old days. There is no integrity in financials noting Zero suicides from financial industry but in the civilian class.

Bankers need heavy hard, bring them to tears regulation so they can't scam us again.

More should still jump out of windows but these pricks have no ethics.

[fortressfountain]

11:39 AM on 04/15/2012

Wow, the global elite impose austerity on developed nations while they ship billions of dollars in aide to 3rd world nations-probally welfare for some corporations to create aide packages and such.
So let me understand. People who have worked hard for many years have to stand by and watch as their money and pensions are stolen for the common good?
Doesn't it sound like they are trying to kill the older people because they have stolen everything they can take from them.
People should not committ suicide they should use the international court system set up to protect the 3rd world nations.
Cutting executive healthcare,pensions, vacations etc. Would save a ton of money. These people did not earn it they stole it from others.

[Segelflug]

11:33 AM on 04/15/2012

This sh*t makes me sick.

Been there, I know the devastating pain of loosing of a good old buddy of mine this way.
A fine lad and a true friend, still left to wonder what went through his head though, the current economic affair being a non-issue given that he was pretty well heeled. I guess you need something more than money to live and this can't be bought, no matter how hard you try.

But anyway, with so many people experiencing "tough love" with significantly reduced or outright cut safety nets, all the while big firms and financial institutions still enjoy even greater state protection and aid, managing to still make a killing for themselves amidst the financial storm, I wonder what refrains people from taking the streets, and raise up in arms.

Once you've nothing to lose, you should have nothing to be afraid of.