Column: America's decline in life expectancy speaks volumes about our problems

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

Years of widening economic inequality, compounded by the pandemic and political storm and stress, have given Americans the impression that the country is on the wrong track. Now there's empirical data to show just how far the country has run off the rails: Life expectancies have been falling.



The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported last year that life expectancy at birth fell in 2021 to its lowest level since 1996, a decline of nearly a year on average from 2020. That was after a decline by 1.8 years from 2019 to 2020, producing the worst two-year decline since 1921-23.

These figures open a window on a set of pathologies unique to America among developed countries.

COVID-19 is the most obvious and convenient culprit, both for the absolute decline in life expectancy and the divergence between the experiences of the U.S. and its economic peers.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/markets/column-america-s-decline-in-life-expectancy-speaks-volumes-about-our-problems/ar-AA19uSzz

Mostly the red states

[orthoclad]

1. The redder the deader

There, election slogan.

[orthoclad]

2. Break it down by wealth class

I want clear documentation that the rich are throwing the rest of us to the undertakers.

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Life is the first freedom.

NPR had nurses on yesterday crying about how corporate ownership of hospitals was damaging their ability to care for their patients. One nurse said management wanted them to call patients "customers".