Econocides Rise as Republicans Dicker for Power

Yesterday in Wilmington, California, a man and wife who both had lost their jobs at Kaiser Permanente enacted a suicide pact, first killing their five children, including two sets of twins. Meanwhile, in our nation’s capitol, Republicans dickered over provisions of President Obama’s economic stimulus proposal. Will their obstructionism raise the likelihood of more “econocides” in the future?

I’m not sure who coined the term “econocide,” which refers to a suicide that is the direct result of economic loss, but there is no doubt that this tragedy is on the rise. Unlike the crash of 1929, which caused some bankers to jump from their skyscraper windows, today’s economy is causing econocides among everyday, desperate citizens. This past fall, in Porter Ranch, California, a man who had lost his job, house and savings committed a similar family murder and suicide; and such tragedies have unfolded in other states as well. Even the fat cats are vulnerable… so far there have been five (that we know of) top financial executives who have committed econocide.

Job loss has always been a trigger for despair, especially among men who define themselves by their breadwinning ability. As far back as March, 2008, the Labor Department reported the jobless rate — also called the “not employed rate”— at 13.1 percent for men in the prime age group. Only once during a post-World War II recession did the rate ever get that high. It hit 13.3 percent in June 1982, the 12th month of the brutal 1981-82 recession. The jobless rate for January, 2009 is not yet available but it is sure to be higher, especially considering that, in December, 2008 alone, U.S. employers took 2,275 mass layoff actions, involving 226,117 workers.

If you count yourself among those who are annoyed by panhandlers on freeway off-ramps holding “Help Me, I’m Homeless” signs, you may wish to meditate when you drive… because homeless statistics also are skyrocketing. Accurate, current statistics are sandwiched within a proliferation of websites dedicated to helping the homeless survive… but there are tens of millions, including an unknown number of American children, whose only “home” is a cardboard box.

Clearly, now is not the time for Republicans to put Obama in his political place by fabricating mock arguments over the efficacy of his stimulus plan. Republicans raised no objections when Bush converted an economic surplus into the biggest deficit in American history by profligate spending on an ill-advised preemptive war. It didn’t bother them to pay government-contracted Blackwater operatives more per day than our soldiers earned in a month. So it shouldn’t offend them when indigent teenagers receive free condoms to help prevent disease and avoid unwanted pregnancies that they, and our welfare system, cannot afford.

Republicans were defeated in the recent election because they demonstrated an appalling lack of responsibility for the economic crisis their policies largely created. Now they are demonstrating an equally dim view of their own best interests. Instead of dickering to regain face and reassure themselves that they can strut if they feel like it (although in their passion to claim undeserved power even walking might be difficult for them), what they should do is reach across the aisle in a sincere, bi-partisan effort to resolve our economic crisis.

Or, maybe Republicans would rather coin a new term for political suicide… any suggestions?