Thom Hartman blames suicides on conservatives, noting austerity and GOP ‘bragging’ about bad economy
The liberal talk radio host Thom Hartmann who on Saturday actually wrote an article wherein he claimed that conservative economic policies are driving people to suicide and blamed economics.
photo /tyler eugene wilson
“Over the past decade, our nation’s suicide rate has been steadily climbing, rising a staggering 23 percent. According to the Centers for Disease Control, there were 700,000 emergency room visits in 2010 alone for self-inflicted injuries. The fact is, America’s suicide rate is on the rise, and Conservative economic policies are to blame.”
Many readers may wonder how Hartmann arrived at this bold proclamation.
Hartmann cited an Oxford University study that found “the real danger to public health is not recession per se, but austerity.”
“That’s right,” wrote Hartmann. “The very same austerity policies that Republicans in Washington are constantly pushing on us are the same policies that are driving Americans to kill themselves.”
Critics would be quick to say there is no austerity in America, noting that the US is spending more in fiscal 2013 than we did in 2012 and 40 percent more than before the Democrats took over Congress in 2007.
So is an increase of 40% in spending in six years is austerity – Hartmann says yes as he blames the conservatives for “bailing out the banks and slashing funding to crucial government programs.”
“You’d think that the clear correlation between austerity and suicide rates in Europe would wake Republicans up, and encourage them to stop inflicting the same despicable and devastating policies on Americans. In their continuing service to the billionaire class, Republicans continue to slash away at social safety net programs, and continue pushing the Reaganomics policies that have devastated America’s working class.
Remember, when Republicans talk about how bad the economy is, they’re bragging. “
Read Hartmann’s article here
