News and Politics | October 17, 2008 | 86 comments

Suicides jump as financial crisis spreads

source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/10/14/financial-crisis-suicide_n_134453.html

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Pericles_Lewnes
An out-of-work money manager in California loses a fortune and wipes out his family in a murder-suicide. A 90-year-old Ohio widow shoots herself in the chest as authorities arrive to evict her from the modest house she called home for 38 years.

In Massachusetts, a housewife who had hidden her family's mounting financial crisis from her husband sends a note to the mortgage company warning: "By the time you foreclose on my house, I'll be dead."

Then Carlene Balderrama shot herself to death, leaving an insurance policy and a suicide note on a table.

Across the country, authorities are becoming concerned that the nation's financial woes could turn increasingly violent, and they are urging people to get help. In some places, mental-health hot lines are jammed, counseling services are in high demand and domestic-violence shelters are full.

"I've had a number of people say that this is the thing most reminiscent of 9/11 that's happened here since then," said the Rev. Canon Ann Malonee, vicar at Trinity Church in the heart of New York's financial district. "It's that sense of having the rug pulled out from under them."

With nowhere else to turn, many people are calling suicide-prevention hot lines. The Samaritans of New York have seen calls rise more than 16 percent in the past year, many of them money-related. The Switchboard of Miami has recorded more than 500 foreclosure-related calls this year.

"A lot of people are telling us they are losing everything. They're losing their homes, they're going into foreclosure, they've lost...

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86 comments // Suicides jump as financial crisis spreads

  • WhiteNoise
  • BOBALOB
  • CarolynGillis
    • 0
      CarolynGillis  

    • I just started reading Walden by Thoreau.
      This book is highly relevant to how we can live without.
      This is more simple now that our children are in college.
      We happened to make some of these changes this year,
      We moved to a condo closer to the small walkable city of Portland.
      I just got rid of my old Honda Civic.
      I plan to ride my bike, use the bus and walk as much as possible..I lost a stubborn 4 pounds the first week.This saves $5,000 a year in expenses and is more healthy and fun. I plan to use my husband's high milage car in a jam...but look forward to renting cars for occasional weekend from Enterprise..or Zipcar that will accomodate my dog.

      I am also moslty a Vegan now and this can also be less costly if you do it right. I am buying locally as much as I can...

      I always love my Goodwill for clothes.

      I use a $10 electric blanket for my bed and we haven't needed to put the heat on in our home much with just the 2 of us.

      I plan to purchase a heated vest i saw on Skymall.com for $150 or so..think those are great..

      We got rid of our home phone ..$40 a month..
      ..

    • 3 years ago
  • khromadjo
    • 0
      khromadjo  

    • Sad, but I suppose if our society wasn't obsessed with drowning in its' own greedy capitalist juices this probably would not be applicable. Or at least as frequent.

    • 3 years ago
  • Cuddlebones
  • SDLN
  • chanjuan
    • 0
      chanjuan  

    • Bad times will pass, just hold on.
      If you fall to the floor, pick yourself up, and continue moving. Money is just paper, it might be beautiful to have, but their are so many greater things out their, why miss all that?? If god have us life, he should be the one to take it away, not us.

    • 3 years ago
  • grease_weasel
  • GRIPEABOUTSTRIPES
  • naturechild
    • 0
      naturechild  

    • Some people are seriously spoiled and lose it when things don't go their way. At least we can still afford to buy bread. Be grateful, people that you can at least feed yourselves. Be happy you are alive and learn to overcome the obstacles thrown at you.

    • 3 years ago
  • BuddyP
  • Arc_Angel
    • 0
      Arc_Angel  

    • This is the kind of the the world over looks. There is more concern about wars over oil war than there is bout the battle at home. The country needs to get the stick out of its ass and look at the real problems for once.Technology, Money and Power has finally put us on our knees.

      Its stuff like this that will lead up to the end of the world.

    • 3 years ago
  • Toughth
    • 0
      Toughth  
    • Arc_Angel:

      You are totaly right but now we have to count on american ingenuity and the technology to get us out of the mess we will most certianly be in again if we continue to let the Mideastern kings, sheicks and imams continue to dictate our energy concerns. I say they can go fry in thier own oil if we dont need it anymore.

    • 3 years ago
  • dreaddaze
    • 0
      dreaddaze  

    • its a deep thing some folks cant handle money lost.
      some folks have lived with that situation for long periods.

      all i can say is how can folks sleep at nite knowing they are to blame for this nations downfall.

      you know there has to be a hell for them and paradise for the innocent folks.

      peace-in

    • 3 years ago
  • DaveTheInventor
  • satanskidney
  • Argon18
  • satanskidney
  • Justanks
    • 0
      Justanks  

    • I don't know what I would do if I could no longer provide a roof over my daughter's head. I would feel like killing myself just because of the pain and guilt. I thank the universe everyday I wake up and still have a job, a car and a roof. If I can manage to keep these, then I know that we'll make it through somehow.

    • 3 years ago
  • IMMININT
  • Argon18
    • 0
      Argon18  

    • Uncertainty has now hit Japan. In the last seven days, Origami bank has folded, Sumo Bank has gone belly up and Bonsai Bank has announced plans to cut some of its branches. Yesterday, it was also announced that Karaoke Bank will go up for sale and will likely go for a song, while shares in Kamikaze Bank were suspended today after they nose-dived. While Samurai Bank is soldiering on after sharp cutbacks, 500 staff at Karate Bank got the chop and analysts report that there is something fishy going on at Sushi Bank, where it is feared that staff may get a raw deal.

    • 3 years ago
  • dawnki
  • clemwilson
  • ambulantic
    • 0
      ambulantic  

    • hey why are all the right wing statements so hateful?

      also what is it with all you people who lash out as these old women who killed themselves?
      you say anyone who kills themselves over money is stupid, but these people aren't doing this out of greed. a person who has lived their whole life in a home and then loses it is going to be traumatized. if you can't understand how horrible it is to lose everything you have, then you should check your human decency meter, because i think it just hit EMPTY.

    • 3 years ago
  • Neghie
    • 0
      Neghie  

    • For those who don't see how it is someone can take their life after losing a fortune, perhaps you've never had that kind of money to begin with. I could never do it myself. If there's one thing I've learned, it's that tomorrows a new day, which means theres always an opportunity to start anew. For those who with the life of uber luxury, they can't fathom having to go back to (gulp) washing their own clothes! Sounds materialistic and trivial, but hey, they'd rather die than have to ever have to shop at Walmart. I understand it.

    • 3 years ago
  • IMMININT
  • cantucwearebrothers
    • 0
      cantucwearebrothers  

    • It's hard to sit here and read some of these comments.

      Really, how many of us are in a position to judge? How many of us have gone days without food, been unable to make rent or pay our bills for months at a time. Yeah, it may get tight once in a while but have we ever really "gone without"?

      I agree that we as a nation have put ourselves in this position. We are over spenders and the keep up with the Jones type. As much as we are disappointed in our government we should be equally disappointed in ourselves.

      Now is the time to rally around each other. Not cut each other down and demean.

    • 3 years ago
  • passjay
    • 0
      passjay  

    • They've only got themselves to blame for killing themselves, or anyonw in their paths. When you let money control you, eventually you will become corrupted by it. Proof by told by this story that has just come out. right now. I know thata it sounds cold, but sometimes the truth hurts. This is when suicide comes into focus. You cannot let that green piece of paper, which by the way is losing it's power everwaking moment, not take control of you. When you do this ,let money take its course,all hell is going to break lose.

    • 3 years ago
  • diabolical44
  • Stevox
  • Venizelos
    • 0
      Venizelos  

    • americans brought this to themselves. whenever they talk politics they fanatically support capitalism, now capitalism is just taking a big recession and shoving it up their asses.
      capitalism is a suicidal, self-destructing system, and its what americans chose. so they better shut up.

    • 3 years ago
  • stephenthomson
    • 0
      stephenthomson  

    • WOW - LAME.

      you're killing yourself because you're out of money?

      you had one life, and you threw it away because it no longer met some prefab standard of material wealth?

      yea, go on and fucking jump.

      Who knew money had such an effect?
      I'm glad I dont have much to lose.
      I suddenly have a lot of respect for the homeless guys downtown who sleep on the streets and eat from the garbage.

    • 3 years ago
  • Pericles_Lewnes
    • 0
      Pericles_Lewnes  

    • You know, in a way, Katrina saved this country from a lot more heartache. President Bush was putting on a full court press to pass the privatization of Social Security which would have been invested in the stock market. Katrina stopped the momentum in IMO.

      If the President was so gung-ho about this, I wonder if anyone tried to tell him how much he was risking.

    • 3 years ago
  • 5thElement
    • 0
      5thElement  

    • People in charge ( government officals, corporate buisness head people) seem to think this is worth it. They're the ones causing all this. I think if anyone wants to shoot somebody they should take it up with the people in charge. That are thinking , " Hey, as long as it isn't me." Those are the people who need to be held responsible. Im not saying go shoot them but for the horrid things that are going on in the world while there chilling on there million dollar yahts and smoking there cubans. When AMERICANS are going insaine because they can not feed there children, give them and themselves a bath. I mean do these people who work for these asses not have a soul? But the funny thing is, MOST OF THEM GO TO CHURCH! Call themselves holy when they see a man who is struggling to provide for his women and there baby are staving to death on the street , they just walk by one after the other. And they don't expect people to while the fuck out??? People are loosing their lives FOR MONEY! Money is the root of all evil. These big corporate head hanchos don't care and they don't derserve any of it. For stepping on peoples toes just to get to the top and make as much money as possible. As long as they arn't out on the streets and starving like rats or loosing there homes and memories of there family and holidays and first times. Don't you all know?? , When our world ends for humanity those rich assholes are going to be living on Mars and leaving everything else on Earth behind to rot. Those people need to be stopped. SO what can we do? VOTE FOR OBAMA!

    • 3 years ago
  • MaeveAlleine
  • huntre
  • Toughth
    • 0
      Toughth  

    • Some can't stand to see the same thing they do to others happen to themselves. If you peg your life on the principle of gaining more wealth and power then you are setting yourself up for a major fall. Christ said the meek shall inheitt the earth and the present crop of ceo's are anything but meek. Befor I retired I hear MBA's say that they were angry because they were not at least corperat VPs by the time they were 33. Thinking it was most unfair. Most partied through their college years and did not tthink they also had to apply tthe knowledge and pay the dues to advance.

    • 3 years ago
  • 10ft
    • 0
      10ft  

    • What do people not realize? The Democrats are the ones who have been in control for the past 4 years. How did they let this happen? Look who is walking away with pockets full of money from this latest banking mishap. Now lets just go ahead and give it all to the Democrats and see what happens.

    • 3 years ago
  • IMMININT
  • ambulantic
  • 5thElement
  • csmonut
  • AndreaKnoll
  • diabolical44
    • 0
      diabolical44  

    • in my insensitive and cynical mind, anybody who kills themselves over losing money i say good riddance. you don't deserve to live. you fail in life. goodbye.

    • 3 years ago
  • twodee
  • BuddyP
  • diabolical44
    • 0
      diabolical44  
    • diabolical44:

      i'm already broke and if i don't get a job soon probably could end up homeless before long. but ya know what, i'd never EVER give up on life. life is about scratching and clawing and beating the challenge. suicide is the cowards way out. and doing it over money is even more shameful. if money is the most important thing in your life, more than loved ones and family, than why live anyway? ya know. there's alot more to live for than money.

    • 3 years ago
  • IMMININT
    • 0
      IMMININT  

    • Suicide over money is pathetic.

      You can always bounce back from financial problems, but the people that love you will never bounce back if they lose you.

    • 3 years ago
  • Cuddlebones
  • undeadbydawn
    • 0
      undeadbydawn  
    • IMMININT:

      I have known many people who, in dire financial situations, came to realize they were worth more dead than alive. Most were in a level of debt that it would take their literal lifetime to get even close to solvency.. that's every day, forever, spent working every hour they could for no financial gain at all. Unable to support their families, nowhere else to go.

      It's a tough spot.

      and it's a rough place to be talking someone out of the ultimate sacrifice, which I have done.

      I do agree that suicide over debt is a bizarre concept. But then again, so is suicide over a girl / boyfriend and that happens all the time.

    • 3 years ago
  • IMMININT
    • 0
      IMMININT  
    • IMMININT:

      Suicide in general is selfish.

      So what, you file bankruptcy...

      10 years of bad credit doesnt mean its 10 years of a bad bond between you and your family. Things like this should bring people closer together...

      Do you honestly think a child will understand why their father killed himself over money?

    • 3 years ago
  • robp24
  • CaptSutter
    • 0
      CaptSutter  

    • I can't predict the future, but one thing is certain it is not as bad as the 30s ... yet,
      However if our president stands up and says "this is the time to panic, The world is coming to an end unless you give me 700 Billion and dictatorial powers."

      no, panicking is not a good idea.

      We need a calm story-teller voice saying over and over again.
      "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself."

    • 3 years ago
  • twodee
    • 0
      twodee  

    • I only lost a quarter of my IRA last week. Not that I will actually ever retire from what I do. I live in a one story house. I guess I can climb on the roof and jump. Thats not so high either. damn.

    • 3 years ago
  • pakazak
    • 0
      pakazak  
    • twodee:

      sustainable, self-sufficiency to the extent that you can. it's the old reduce, re-use, recycle mantra.
      i feel your pain. a good day is when my IRA only loses $200 or $300.
      hang in there.

    • 3 years ago
  • twodee
    • 0
      twodee  
    • twodee:

      Thanks. I am not so worried. I could see half or more vanishing in the weeks to come as well. Sure I gulp a few times and shake my fist at the computer for telling me such dastardly news... but ..hey...whatever.... Not the most important thing.
      Money is an energy that flows all directions. You are spot on about the sustainable, self-sufficiency thing.

    • 3 years ago
  • BuddyP
  • WhiteNoise
    • 0
      WhiteNoise  

    • Jump jump jump jump jump......
      There's a fruitcake in the window
      Someone fetch the cops
      For God's sake get a camera
      Before the bastard drops
      A little to the left
      A little to the right
      A little to the left
      Maybe tonight's the night
      Why are we waiting?
      We're waiting
      A little to the left
      Right down the middle
      A little to the right
      X marks the spot
      You ain't gonna be
      On This is Your Life's tonight

      Are you bored?
      Are you jaded?
      Has all enthusiasm faded
      Are you one of those people

      EXCERPT : Godley And Creme - The Sporting Life
      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Godley_and_Creme

    • 3 years ago
  • wiredbirds
  • pobaldy66
  • daboz
    • 0
      daboz  

    • Democrats should be pleased, Fewer carbon footprints.
      Destruction of the EVIL rich people and those EVIL corporation. Who are you going to steal your welfare money from now?

    • 3 years ago
  • pakazak
  • daboz
  • flyingkick
    • 0
      flyingkick  
    • daboz:

      'evil rich' people get more welfare than poor people do, in the form of tax loopholes and government subsidies, which ultimately is paid for by the middle class.

    • 3 years ago
  • ambulantic
  • edogg_444
  • islek
  • jonny2times
    • 0
      jonny2times  

    • you create a system to govern a people that fled from unjust taxation. 232 years later, your system has become exactly what the forefathers feared. the common link between a civilizations fall is when the government begins taxing the middle and lower classes 40%, we have reached this. our government is a risk to national security. people have lost all they had, and there is much more to follow.

    • 3 years ago
  • pobaldy66
  • createfreely
    • 0
      createfreely  

    • That 90 year old woman who shot herself, then got to keep her home, is the most despicable thing I have ever seen. So just because she shot herself, she gets off the hook? Shameful...

    • 3 years ago
  • isnamthere
  • pakazak
  • createfreely
    • 0
      createfreely  
    • createfreely:

      heartless, ignorant? i think not. all i am saying is that it's not right for someone to get saved, by being selfish and choosing to end their own life. yeah, rewarding people for doing stupid things is very constructive...

    • 3 years ago
  • pakazak
    • 0
      pakazak  
    • createfreely:

      ever lived on a fixed (low) income?
      have many medical bills?
      alone? unsure about where you will be when you're 90 with no place to go?
      oh yeah, that's right she's lived too long already.
      saying ignorant, heartless things doesn't mean you're ignorant and heartless, it just means you're clueless.

    • 3 years ago
  • createfreely
  • GatorMonkey
  • IMMININT
  • WhiteNoise
    • 0
      WhiteNoise  
    • Image

    • Everything is still going according to plan ;)

      PRIVATIZE THE PROFITS & SOCIALIZE THE LOSS !

      PS : Frankly, I'm starting to wonder how much of those stealth transactions & so called failures are being used to white wash money from the illegal drug, arms & sex industry... banks have held that stinky poop for so long that at one point it has got to show up somewhere, somehow... just saying ;)

      All the more enraging for the local community banks that have been playing it by the book & stayed honest. To witness the bail out of the criminals by the criminals is one sad reality for anybody on the other side of the fence... our side !

      It is not as if this was a brand new dossier either ;)

      "The real truth of the matter is, and you and I know, that a financial element in the large centers has owned the government of the U.S. since the days of Andrew Jackson. History depicts Andrew Jackson as the last truly honorable and incorruptible American president." - President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, November 23, 1933 in a letter to Colonel Edward Mandell House

      "I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies. Already they have raised up a monied aristocracy that has set the government at defiance. The issuing power of money should be taken away from the banks and restored to the people to whom it properly belongs." - President Thomas Jefferson

      "Whoever controls the volume of money in any country is absolute master of all industry and commerce." -- President James A. Garfield

      "Those who create and issue money and credit direct the policies of government and hold in the hollow of their hands the destiny of the people." -- Rt. Hon. Reginald McKenna, former Chancellor of Exchequer, England

      "Give me control of a nation's money and I care not who makes her laws." -- Baron Mayer Amschel Rothschild of the Rothschild banking dynasty

    • 3 years ago
  • pobaldy66
  • silent_line
    • 0
      silent_line  

    • crazy this is so horrid money is truly the root of all evil but we all work like slaves so we can maintain. While the governors and politicians and media moguls stay rich.

    • 3 years ago
  • cantucwearebrothers
    • 0
      cantucwearebrothers  
    • silent_line:

      It's the "love" of money that is the root of all evil. Really...how many in the US are actually living just to maintain? We're not talking sustenance and covering here...we're talking Mercedes, McMansions and Gucci. We are an over consuming nation and we're being brought to our knees.

    • 3 years ago
  • undeadbydawn
    • 0
      undeadbydawn  
    • silent_line:

      I believe the phrase is 'the Desire for money is the root of all evil"

      which in this case is probably true.
      The revolting mega-greed culture that has evolved over time - and stoked no end during the Bush administration - is largely to blame for this mess, no doubt.

      I often wonder if there will come a point when the mega-rich realize there is no point in being any richer. People such as Bill Gates and Warren Buffet are fortunately already there.

    • 3 years ago
  • phillyharper
  • WhiteNoise
    • 0
      WhiteNoise  

    • NATION OF WHINERS GOES ON SUICIDE BINGE !
      http://my.nowpublic.com/world/nation-whiners-goes-suicide-binge

      Fear & Greed Corp reigns under the guise of Mindfuck Inc. ; no wonder the average citizen is under stress !

      "It is well that the people of the nation do not understand our banking and monetary system, for if they did, I believe there would be a revolution before tomorrow morning." - Henry Ford

      Now what were we told not so long ago apart from... the foundation of our economy is rock solid ?

      Get a third job ! Sell a vital organ ! Move in a card box by the river, but stop your whining buba ! You are but a victim of your own imagination, you suffer from a severe case of "mental recession"... Now get over it WHINERS !

      * WAR IS PEACE, FREEDOM IS SLAVERY, IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH *

    • 3 years ago
  • Pericles_Lewnes
  • GRIPEABOUTSTRIPES
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