Live data from Hacker News

The average American has the same life expectancy as the worst part of England

twitter.com

31–40 of 399 posts

Re: The average American has the same life expectancy as the worst part of England

#31

As fucked up as death is, I wonder if a lower life expectancy isn't the worst thing in the world. To some extent in the West, but especially in Asia, we're really starting to see the demographic issues that come with people living for too long. Aging populations, plummeting birthrates, redirection of public resources away from children and families... Maybe we shouldn't be trying as hard as we are to drag on life int…

You haven’t understood the article.

The decline in life expectancy in the US is not being driven by more rapid decline in the aging population but by young people dying earlier exerting influence over the entire curve.

I can assure you that the burden of age related conditions will continue to grow but that again is because the largest generation humans have ever produced is aging out. And on the most part they’re more functional and able later into their senescence than ever before thanks to hip replacements and laser eye surgery and all the rest.

Re: The average American has the same life expectancy as the worst part of England

#32
post #15
post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

At the same time US government spends the most in the world on socialized healthcare.

The US government spends the most in the world on subsidizing corporations for healthcare. There is nothing "socialized" about it. The public in general gets very little of that benefit. And that holds true even if you include Medicare.

I meant only Medicare and Medicaid. The US government spends on Medicare and Medicare more then any other country on healthcare.

Re: The average American has the same life expectancy as the worst part of England

#33

"1 in 25 Americans being born will not make it to their 40th birthday." Wow. Actually impressed with the analysis backing this up. If you read the entire thread, he actually covers nearly every correlating factor I could think of. And it's pretty clearly drugs, guns, suicide, and cars. (The cardio health one doesn't seem as strong). The one that is crazy to me is the uptick in driving fatalities. Cars are an order of…

It’s not necessarily recklessness. Cars in the US have gotten much larger and heavier in recent years. A Ford F150 might be safe to drive, but it’s not safer for pedestrians and other road users than the smaller cars we used to have.

Plus, modern US trucks are as big (if not as heavy) as WW2 tanks. Photos taken from the infamous DailyMail, but they look correct to me, that is [1] and [2]

[1] https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2021/07/25/21/45875073-9823577-...

[2] https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2021/07/25/21/45876985-9823577-...

Re: The average American has the same life expectancy as the worst part of England

#34

Christ Jesus, the USA are on average as good as Merthyr Tydfil, the epicenter of Welsh coal mining, which Maggie Thatcher destroyed. It's bad, but no one anticipated it to be that bad.

Yeah, well, as long as I can sling code for 100K+ a year in this fine country, it’s not my problem what happens thousands of miles away over in Mississippi.

—HN

Re: The average American has the same life expectancy as the worst part of England

#35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s not necessarily recklessness. Cars in the US have gotten much larger and heavier in recent years. A Ford F150 might be safe to drive, but it’s not safer for pedestrians and other road users than the smaller cars we used to have.

I bet phone usage is also a factor. Keep in mind that while we had cell phones for a while, it’s only within the past 10 years that the whole “distraction economy” became a thing, so while people may have used phones to communicate back in the day, nowadays they might be using the phones even more just to attend to those distractions.

[dead]

Re: The average American has the same life expectancy as the worst part of England

#36

Christ Jesus, the USA are on average as good as Merthyr Tydfil, the epicenter of Welsh coal mining, which Maggie Thatcher destroyed. It's bad, but no one anticipated it to be that bad.

Yeah, well, as long as I can sling code for 100K+ a year in this fine country, it’s not my problem what happens thousands of miles away over in Mississippi. —HN

Live fast, die young. What's the issue?

Re: The average American has the same life expectancy as the worst part of England

#37
post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>All the guns also cause a bunch of small kids to kill their siblings every year. No they don't, unless you're going to quibble about what a bunch is. Numbers that seem to show lots of deaths to "kids" pretty much always include age ranges old enough to include gang members.

I’ll admit I didn’t look up those numbers but I read about these things way too regularly. But that’s of course not the main thing about guns and kids in the US like everyone knows.

Statistically speaking, suicide is the #1 cause of gun death in the US, gang activity is #2.

School shootings are far down the list. They get a lot of attention but don't account for a large proportion of deaths.

Of course, that any of these deaths occur is tragic, which is why the most sensible solution is repeal of the Second Amendment and implementation of a nationwide, federal license requirement to purchase or own a firearm. 120-day grace period. License each gun, turn them in, or go to jail.

Let the gangs resort to cutting each other like Japanese gangs.

Re: The average American has the same life expectancy as the worst part of England

#38

Christ Jesus, the USA are on average as good as Merthyr Tydfil, the epicenter of Welsh coal mining, which Maggie Thatcher destroyed. It's bad, but no one anticipated it to be that bad.

Yeah, well, as long as I can sling code for 100K+ a year in this fine country, it’s not my problem what happens thousands of miles away over in Mississippi. —HN

Why don't they just e̶a̶t̶ ̶c̶a̶k̶e̶ learn to code?

Re: The average American has the same life expectancy as the worst part of England

#39
post #31

As fucked up as death is, I wonder if a lower life expectancy isn't the worst thing in the world. To some extent in the West, but especially in Asia, we're really starting to see the demographic issues that come with people living for too long. Aging populations, plummeting birthrates, redirection of public resources away from children and families... Maybe we shouldn't be trying as hard as we are to drag on life int…

You haven’t understood the article. The decline in life expectancy in the US is not being driven by more rapid decline in the aging population but by young people dying earlier exerting influence over the entire curve. I can assure you that the burden of age related conditions will continue to grow but that again is because the largest generation humans have ever produced is aging out. And on the most part they’re mo…

I don't think you understand the comment.

If the life expectancy drops, there are fewer elderly to care for.

If people don't make it to 70, you don't have to care for 70+ year Olds. It is a fair thought experiment to explore.

Depending on what your priorities are, it could be optimal for everyone to die before retirement age.

Re: The average American has the same life expectancy as the worst part of England

#40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Cars are getting so big that people can’t drive them. An indescribably sad statistic: In the US, a parent drives over and kills their kid in the driveway every other day [1]. All the guns also cause -a bunch of— some small kids to kill their siblings every year. [1] https://www.nbcnews.com/news/amp/rcna52109

> Cars are getting so big that people can’t drive them. While controversial because car companies in the US intentionally chose to market large SUVs to the public, there is some evidence that smaller vehicles are safer and that auto manufacturers have doubled down on unsafe vehicles. Why this is the case, isn’t exactly known, but one of the theories is that bad drivers will get behind bigger cars and take more risks.…

Smaller cars are more dangerous in a multi-car accident.

Most accidents only involve a single car.

There is less control in larger vehicles.

Everyone thinks they are a better driver than they are and the only way they'll end up in an accident is if someone else hits them.

Add all this up and many want to drive larger cars.

Post reply on HN