Krugman writes: "There have been a number of studies showing that life expectancy for less-educated whites is falling across much of the nation. If you believe the usual suspects on the right, it's all the fault of liberals. But (surprise!) this view is very much at odds with the evidence."
Paul Krugman. (photo: NYT)
Despair, American Style
09 November 15
couple of weeks ago President Obama mocked Republicans who are “down on America,” and reinforced his message by doing a pretty good Grumpy Cat impression. He had a point: With job growth at rates not seen since the 1990s, with the percentage of Americans covered by health insurance hitting record highs, the doom-and-gloom predictions of his political enemies look ever more at odds with reality.
Yet there is a darkness spreading over part of our society. And we don’t really understand why.
There has been a lot of comment, and rightly so, over a new paper by the economists Angus Deaton (who just won a Nobel) and Anne Case, showing that mortality among middle-aged white Americans has been rising since 1999. This deterioration took place while death rates were falling steadily both in other countries and among other groups in our own nation.
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