Not difficult to understand.
Why bother?
There’s very little hope for a decent life. It’s not rocket surgery. Unless you get lucky being born into wealth, success in entertainment industry, stock market stuff, something else that gets you enough money to be financially independent… is rare and unlikely.
The rest have to work jobs we hate. Rising cost of living. Own a home… Ha! Then you work your shit job and when you retire at 70 it’s mostly just time to die, having wasted life working to prop up some billionaires enjoying yachts and diddling kids.
People are realizing there’s not much hope for a large number of us.
Tax the rich or bring back guillotines, or both.
That’s where I’m at. I graduated college at 22, got an engineering job right out of college that put me in the top 0.5% of income earners for my age, then did that for 5 years. At no point was I even close to being able to afford a down-payment on even a shitty condo where I lived. Now im unemployed, smoke weed all day, and im basically waiting to either participate in a revolution or run out of money and die. I am strictly unwilling to participate in capitalism anymore, I’ve got enough blood on my hands for a lifetime and nothing to show for it other than than the experience needed to realize how much of what I grew up believing was nothing more than cynical propaganda.
What kind of engineering? Are you not able to find a job or just not trying? Just looking to understand other people’s stories a bit more.
A weird combination of electric, radar, computer, and hardware test. I used to do technique development and operational testing for radar jamming equipment on a strategic bomber for the airforce. I tried going back to school for a bit, but I learned that academia is run by pathetic cowards who can and will build weapons for fascists in exchange for funding. I came to the conclusion that the only thing I was changing was how likely I was to have to see the piles of corpses I was helping create. Now im just not looking anymore. I still get a daily deluge of emails from war profiteers looking for somebody willing to be a principal engineer in shithole towns like Huntsville or Abilene
Fair enough. Here’s hoping you find whatever happiness you’re looking for in life.
Appreciate it, but I stopped looking a long time ago. I was raised in a military family to be an attack dog for fascists, and i realized that everybody i ever looked up to or trusted would rather support fascism than accept even a mote of discomfort in their personal lives. I dont trust another soul in the world and honestly im not sure i have the capacity to; ive only ever experienced cynical monsters of human beings vying for dominance, and I got extremely good at that game. If there even is anything worth living for in this faustian existence, the weight of my sins is such that I don’t deserve to experience it
Well said, I sympathize and we have very similar backgrounds based on what you’ve said. Are your sins and blood on your hands due to working for defense contractors or military or related? If so I feel that to my core. I tried saying “at least I’m not making bombs or missiles”, but even if you’re supporting them in other ways it’s still part of the machine where poor people end up dead or impoverished, all because of billionaires war games. And they get richer along the way.
We’re not special. We’re primates. The greatest smartest ape on the planet. But it’s still just a more advanced and complex form of what chimps do in the wild. The animalistic competition and domination is fucking stupid when you start to recognize it. We’re the only fucking species intelligent enough to transcend that shit, yet look at us?
Take what I say with a very fine grain of salt. And I would never presume know what’s best for people or try to tell anyone what to do. But if you want to be effective in the one in a billion chance there’s a revolution or anything remotely like it, maybe prepare? Health wise and whatever else you might think. I’d like to smoke and drink every day too, but what about just in case? Personally I’m ready to pull the trigger if an opportunity arises, but I would want it to count. Yeah, I’m kinda saying don’t give up just yet. They way you think, we need people like you.
I don’t think people like you and I are alone. I think it’s possible more people are/will grow to feel and think this way, given the way things are going.
Yeah, I was a defense contractor. I grew up periodically wondering if this was finally the deployment my dad wouldn’t come home from, and getting the chance to work in radar jamming to keep american aviators alive felt like a dream come true at first.
I am afraid to try to change the world again. I already know that I have the capability to change things in the world, I spent plenty of time doing it. I also know that I developed my values and morality while being raised as a white supremacist, and that I am gullible enough to be misled into doing evil. I dont remotely trust my own judgement on what would make the world a better place, and I trust anybody telling me what I should do even less. I’ve already had to see and smell the consequences of trusting other people who justify violence to me.
You won me over with “rocket surgery” <3
The answer is for future generations to stop having kids. Fewer consumers for billionaires to leech off of and turn into corporate slaves. More houses to go around once older generations die off. Less competition. Corporations will probably raise prices like crazy and turn people into super-consumers and of course some people will still have kids and we all saw idiocracy.
In capitalism, there is no going back. You have to beat least year’s profits no matter what.
There is plenty of housing currently in Western countries, it’s just not being made available to those in need. That won’t change with lower birthrate, it will stay not available to them. It can only change with system change where no one can hoard insane billion amounts of $ € ¥ numbers on their screen or have thousands of homes as their belongings.
Definitely a lot of corporations turning homes to rentals but if there are fewer people to rent those houses, it’s not as lucrative an investment and with a surplus of homes, there’s more opportunity for people to buy them. I get what you’re saying tho. They have all the power to turn any situation in their favor.
In some situations they’ll rather have empty houses than rent it out to the poorest people for lower prices. Or actively destroy (“upgrade”) affordable housing to keep prices of the rest up. And if the prices do really go down a lot it’s still poors with mortgages but suddenly no more enough income selling their places for bargain prices to the ultra rich for whom even in a real estate crisis with crashed prices it’s all still just a game situation, not a food on the table one. They use it to gobble up even more.
Millennials are killing the living industry.
I like how seemingly no one here is reading the article because of the paywall, which no millennials (including me) are going to pay to get past, which is emblematic of why no one is going to pay attention to the findings of these (at a quick look) millennial-age-bracket-looking researchers instead of raging into Facebook algos or whatever most folks do. There are so many layers of irony.
The information pipe to steer us outa this is so busted. It’s unreal.
And yes, I know I can find the archive link…
Here is the paper linked in the article. Feel free to share it on Facebook
https://www.doi.org/10.1001/jamahealthforum.2025.1118
Introduction
Mortality rates decreased more slowly in the US than in other high-income countries (HICs) between 1980 and 2019,1 resulting in growing numbers of excess US deaths compared with other HICs.1-4 We assessed trends in excess US deaths before (1980-2019), during (2020-2022), and after (2023) the acute phase of the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods
This cross-sectional study was deemed exempt from review and informed consent by the Boston University Institutional Review Board because no human participants were included. We followed the STROBE reporting guideline.
We obtained all-cause mortality data for the US and 21 other HICs from the Human Mortality Database from January 1980 to December 2023.5 For each year, we computed age-specific mortality rates for the US and the population-weighted average of other HICs. We then calculated the number of US deaths that would have been expected each year had the US population experienced the age-specific mortality rates of other HICs. We computed ratios of observed-to-expected US deaths. We then computed numbers of excess deaths attributable to the US mortality disadvantage by taking the difference between observed and expected US deaths. We stratified by age. Finally, we fit a linear regression model to assess whether the number of excess US deaths in 2023 differed from the 2014-2019 prepandemic trend (eMethods in Supplement 1). Analyses were conducted with Stata/MP, version 18.0 (StataCorp LLC), and R, version 4.42 (R Project for Statistical Computing). Results
Our analysis encompassed 107 586 398 deaths in the US and 230 208 265 deaths in other HICs from 1980 to 2023. We estimate that 14 735 913 excess deaths occurred in the US in this period compared with other HICs. US mortality rose rapidly in 2020 and 2021 during the pandemic, then declined in 2022 and 2023. The pandemic-era mortality surge was less pronounced in other HICs (Figure, A). Figure. Mortality Rates, Mortality Rate Ratios, and Excess US Deaths Attributable to the US Mortality Disadvantage Relative to Other High-Income Countries (HICs) Mortality Rates, Mortality Rate Ratios, and Excess US Deaths Attributable to the US Mortality Disadvantage Relative to Other High-Income Countries (HICs) (opens in new tab)
A, Trends in US mortality rates, mortality rates of other HICs, and average mortality rates in other HICs standardized to the US age distribution in each year (1980-2023). B, Age-specific mortality rate ratios comparing US mortality rates to the average of other HICs (2014-2023). C, Excess deaths attributable to the US mortality disadvantage (1980-2023). D, Linear extrapolation of the prepandemic trend in excess deaths over the period from 2020 to 2023. B and D start in 2014 to enable visualization of trends immediately before, during, and after the acute phase of the COVID-19 pandemic. The comparison set of HICs included Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom. In panel D, the solid orange line shows the linear regression fit for 2014-2019; the dotted orange line extrapolates this trend through 2020-2023; the shaded area indicates 95% CIs; and the vertical black lines indicate deviations of excess US deaths from what would be expected based on the prepandemic trend.
Relative differences between the US and other HICs widened before and during the pandemic, particularly among younger adults, before contracting in 2022 and 2023. Age-standardized mortality rate ratios comparing the US with the average of other HICs were 1.20 in 2010, 1.28 in 2019, 1.46 in 2021, and 1.30 in 2023 (Table). In 2023, mortality among US adults aged 25-44 years was 2.6 times higher than in other HICs (Figure, B). Table. Observed Deaths, Expected Deaths, Mortality Rate Ratios, and Excess Deaths Attributable to the US Mortality Disadvantage, 1980-2023 Observed Deaths, Expected Deaths, Mortality Rate Ratios, and Excess Deaths Attributable to the US Mortality Disadvantage, 1980-2023 (opens in new tab) Year All ages Children and adults (aged 0-64 y) Older adults (aged ≥65 y) No. of US deaths Mortality rate ratio No. of excess US deaths (% of observed) No. of US deaths Mortality rate ratio No. of excess US deaths (% of observed) No. of US deaths Mortality rate ratio No. of excess US deaths (% of observed) Observed Expected Observed Expected Observed Expected 1980 1 989 837 2 031 945 0.98 −42 109 (−2.1) 647 614 522 254 1.24 125 360 (19.4) 1 342 222 1 509 691 0.89 −167 469 (−12.5) 1990 2 148 467 2 058 809 1.04 89 658 (4.2) 606 088 461 031 1.31 145 057 (23.9) 1 542 379 1 597 778 0.97 −55 399 (−3.6) 2000 2 403 399 2 048 411 1.17 354 987 (14.8) 603 345 447 098 1.35 156 247 (25.9) 1 800 054 1 601 313 1.12 198 741 (11.0) 2010 2 468 426 2 059 256 1.20 409 170 (16.6) 670 064 456 743 1.47 213 322 (31.8) 1 798 362 1 602 513 1.12 195 849 (10.9) 2019 2 854 826 2 223 579 1.28 631 247 (22.1) 737 398 419 815 1.76 317 583 (43.1) 2 117 428 1 803 764 1.17 313 664 (14.8) 2020 3 383 749 2 375 380 1.42 1 008 369 (29.8) 874 271 436 569 2.00 437 702 (50.1) 2 509 479 1 938 812 1.29 570 667 (22.7) 2021 3 464 260 2 365 452 1.46 1 098 808 (31.7) 969 489 441 582 2.20 527 908 (54.5) 2 494 771 1 923 871 1.30 570 900 (22.9) 2022 3 279 915 2 459 519 1.33 820 396 (25.0) 853 052 432 049 1.97 421 003 (49.4) 2 426 863 2 027 470 1.20 399 393 (16.5) 2023 3 081 628 2 376 297 1.30 705 331 (22.9) 777 813 419 866 1.85 357 947 (46.0) 2 303 815 1 956 431 1.18 347 384 (15.1)
Excess deaths attributable to the US mortality disadvantage peaked at 1 008 369 in 2020 and 1 098 808 in 2021, then declined to 820 396 in 2022 and 705 331 in 2023. These numbers followed 4 decades of rising excess deaths, reaching 631 247 in 2019 (Figure, C and Table). In 2023, excess US deaths accounted for 22.9% of all deaths and 46.0% of deaths among US residents younger than 65 years (Table).
Regression analysis demonstrated that the rising trend in excess US deaths before 2020 continued during the pandemic. Excess deaths in 2023, although lower than in 2020 to 2022, were higher than in 2019 and consistent with the slope established from 2014 to 2019 (Figure, D). Discussion
Between 1980 and 2023, the total number of excess US deaths reached an estimated 14.7 million.1 Although excess deaths per year peaked in 2021, there were still more than 1.5 million during 2022 to 2023. In 2023, excess death rates remained substantially higher than prepandemic rates. The rising trend from 1980 to 2019 appears to have continued during and after the pandemic, likely reflecting prepandemic causes of death, including drug overdose, firearm injury, and cardiometabolic disease.6 These deaths highlight the continued consequences of US health system inadequacies, economic inequality, and social and political determinants of health.1-3,5
Study limitations include potential sensitivity to choice of comparison countries, use of provisional data for some countries in 2023, and lack of stratification to investigate differences by sex, race and ethnicity, and socioeconomic status. Our results suggest that policy solutions may be found in the experiences of other HICs. Future research is needed to identify the specific causes of the widening US mortality disadvantage and opportunities for intervention.
This one was actually easy. If you use Firefox, click reader view, and the entire article is available. It’s rare, but sometimes it works.
well the article doesn’t seem to go into the Why
My wife and I are older millennials, born in the 80s. I’m morbidly obese and she’s an alcoholic and a smoker. We’re doing our part.
If you compare economic realities for millennials in the US compared to other wealthy nations what does it look like? Genuine question, but these type of demographic problems frequently have economic underpinnings such as less access to health care, financial stability and quality food along with increased exposure to environmental toxins, access to guns, drugs and alcohol combined with a culture that requires driving to live except in very specific places.
Speaking of mental health, I am outside the specified range listed here (by just a few years) but my mental health declined significantly during and following the pandemic and for a variety of reasons, but I can absolutely see older millennials struggling with hitting middle-age with few assets to their name due to the massive transfer of wealth upwards which accelerated just as they were entering the job market. Who can blame them for wanting to give up when they were left out in the cold waiting for a chance at a future that was stolen years ago? Every year it seems more evident that our society has failed and we’re just watching it slowly crumble around us.
This is pretty much it.
I was coasting along, and doing pretty well for myself. Things needed to be changed politically, but nothing dire. Working on that change. Then everything went off a f&@“ng cliff into the ocean.
Life is bleak, and like any disaster, know where the exits are.
Does it have something to do with wealth inequality and quality of life being so inextricable from personal wealth? That would be my guess, but I don’t know for sure bc paywall… Oh well.
I’m sure some of it is wealth distribution and some is access to healthcare. Culture also has an effect of course. But from the chart I saw in one these comments shows 22-44 year olds being 2.5 times more likely to die than other high income countries. That sounds absurd. (As in bad, not unbelievable)
Definitely but quality of life is tied to healthcare, and in the U.S. access to healthcare is sadly tied to wealth.
For suicide -
In the states, being suicidal gets you institutionalized in a place that will not help. These places are straight out of One Flew Out of the Coockoos Nest. There is no regulation. There is no oversight.
Imagine wanting to die and being punished for it. There’s a reason suicide rates increase after inpatient hospitalization.
The places I’ve seen in Europe actually seem to try to help their patients. I’ve seen TikTok videos from people staying inpatient in places in the UK - they’re allowed to have their phones there.
Getting help with ideation is impossible, because if you cross that line and admit to much you get treated like a fucking criminal.
The government owns your body and gets upset when you try to damage their property.
It’s the only reason the system is set up how it is.
It’s so goddamned fucking frustrating.
Being under toxic stress and realizing there is no help. That seeking out help only makes the problem worse. Trying to talk to people about it and “have you tried therapy?”
Yeah, I paid thousands of dollars for someone to throw worksheets at me. I was stupid enough to go inpatient and lost my job, so now I can’t even pay for the fucking worksheets.
I literally have no idea what to fucking do.
Have you thought about not being poor?
I’ve thought about soaking myself in gasoline and lighting myself on the steps of the capital, yes.
Good idea. I’m going go ask my father for a small loan of a million dollars.
I’ve had suicide plans before, and if I am ever serious I will never tell a soul. Mental institutions are bleak places.
Cant afford health insurance, much less insurance, co pay, second opinions, more co pay, appointments spread over months so max deductible isnt hit. Its a fuckin joke and if i have something wrong with me i’ll just die from it.
I blame the boomers for being way too selfish. They’re ruining it for everyone else
i told my mother (boomer generation) that now that she’s 70 she should think about planting a tree she will never see grow.
she looked at me like i told her to go fuck herself and told me that was dumb.
the boomer problem is an everyone problem.
Not all boomers.
Also, I don’t see all that much difference in boomer attitudes than some of the ones I see/saw in the Silent Generation and the “Greatest” Generation when it comes to at least a subset of them being very conservative and selfish in older age.
Millenials […] early adult.
😂
I got carded at a bar a few weeks ago for the first time in years, and now I find out I’m still an “early adult”, despite being over 40? Hell yeah!
Add it to the pile…
…?
are you still with us, boydster?? WAKE UP!!!
It sounds like the US is just a dangerous place to live in a variety of ways, it’s interesting that traffic fatalities are one of the reasons behind their high rate of premature death.
Still others highlight America’s permissive gun laws
While I don’t have numbers broken out by age range, over half of all gun deaths in America each year are suicides. Source: https://gunviolencearchive.org/
Instead of banning guns and calling it done, maybe we should help those people to want to be alive. That way, so-called permissive gun laws simply wouldn’t be relevant.
You could safe it by turning the title into “American Billionaires are Dying at an Alarming Rate”
I think you mean “aren’t” dying at a high enough rate?
I meant that would fix the situation but I didn’t write it well
