Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Life expectancy in America has declined for two years in a row

economist.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

41–50 of 188 posts

Re: Life expectancy in America has declined for two years in a row

#41

Post by pknopf »

forapurpose wrote: post #27

Other measures of human welfare that are declining in the U.S.: * "This year, the number of domestic undergraduate students dropped 224,000" https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/02/us/international-enrollme... * If nothing is done, the number of Americans with health insurance is expected to decline by millions this year (due to the repeal of the health care tax (I forget the term they used) in the new tax law). * With CH…

The system will stretch us thin, until we break.

I don't know what "break" means, but I don't think it will be pretty.

Re: Life expectancy in America has declined for two years in a row

#42

Post by refurb »

dragonwriter wrote: post #17
refurb wrote: post #3

Life expectancy is a very blunt tool when measuring citizen's well being. A few ways life expectancy can go down: - babies that other would have died and not counted live long enough with modern medicine that they drag the average down - refugees or immigrants in poor health increase, dragging the average down - a change in methodology in how life expectancy is calculated

All of those things could theoretically occur, but there hasn't been a methodology change in the US, the age distribution of deaths doesn't support the first explanation, and other demographics of deaths don't support the second. So, they are irrelevant.

That's not what the CDC said.

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16089110

Re: Life expectancy in America has declined for two years in a row

#43

Post by rayiner »

forapurpose wrote: post #29
majormajor wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'd say less the recession and more just a particularly-hard-hitting-in-America trend away from the country's historical industrial base. The 20th century US benefited massively from being on the front lines of modern industrialization and mass production, creating a ton of jobs especially in certain regions. And in areas that haven't been able to replace those jobs as the US economy becomes based in different areas…

I'd say it's large reductions in government programs, from health to education to food and welfare programs for the poor. I don't have data, but it's hard to believe that such programs have no effect. Also, the U.S. moved on from being an industrial economy decades ago, long before most people realize. In Detroit, for example, auto industry jobs began declining in the 1950s.

Has there been a net decrease in these programs since 2008? I think the opposite is true.

Re: Life expectancy in America has declined for two years in a row

#44

Post by rayiner »

forapurpose wrote: post #27

Other measures of human welfare that are declining in the U.S.: * "This year, the number of domestic undergraduate students dropped 224,000" https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/02/us/international-enrollme... * If nothing is done, the number of Americans with health insurance is expected to decline by millions this year (due to the repeal of the health care tax (I forget the term they used) in the new tax law). * With CH…

The first number is a good thing. We’re overeducated in the US.

Re: Life expectancy in America has declined for two years in a row

#45

Post by dqpb »

rayiner wrote: post #44
forapurpose wrote: post #27

Other measures of human welfare that are declining in the U.S.: * "This year, the number of domestic undergraduate students dropped 224,000" https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/02/us/international-enrollme... * If nothing is done, the number of Americans with health insurance is expected to decline by millions this year (due to the repeal of the health care tax (I forget the term they used) in the new tax law). * With CH…

The first number is a good thing. We’re overeducated in the US.

Define overeducated

Re: Life expectancy in America has declined for two years in a row

#46

Post by shams93 »

pknopf wrote: post #41
forapurpose wrote: post #27

Other measures of human welfare that are declining in the U.S.: * "This year, the number of domestic undergraduate students dropped 224,000" https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/02/us/international-enrollme... * If nothing is done, the number of Americans with health insurance is expected to decline by millions this year (due to the repeal of the health care tax (I forget the term they used) in the new tax law). * With CH…

The system will stretch us thin, until we break. I don't know what "break" means, but I don't think it will be pretty.

I lived through the LA riots, breaks means every block in every city on fire with people angry out of their mind breaking everything they can get their hands on and people shooting everywhere. You reach a breaking point and you have sudden social collapse.

Re: Life expectancy in America has declined for two years in a row

#47

Post by thatcat »

biohax2015 wrote: post #33

It’s very frustrating to watch America decline and not being able to do anything about it. Has democracy failed? Is it time for a rekindling of the study of comparative politics? It seems the Chinese have a viable solution to the problem of a largely uneducated and passive populace.

>Chinese have a viable solution to the problem of a largely uneducated and passive populace.

How so?

Re: Life expectancy in America has declined for two years in a row

#48

Post by AnthonyMouse »

rayiner wrote: post #44
forapurpose wrote: post #27

Other measures of human welfare that are declining in the U.S.: * "This year, the number of domestic undergraduate students dropped 224,000" https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/02/us/international-enrollme... * If nothing is done, the number of Americans with health insurance is expected to decline by millions this year (due to the repeal of the health care tax (I forget the term they used) in the new tax law). * With CH…

The first number is a good thing. We’re overeducated in the US.

> The first number is a good thing. We’re overeducated in the US.

Is that even possible? It's not as if we're swimming in demand for unskilled labor at a living wage.

The underlying problem seems to be that college (along with housing and healthcare) are too expensive and people can't afford them.

Re: Life expectancy in America has declined for two years in a row

#49

Post by AnthonyMouse »

forapurpose wrote: post #27

Other measures of human welfare that are declining in the U.S.: * "This year, the number of domestic undergraduate students dropped 224,000" https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/02/us/international-enrollme... * If nothing is done, the number of Americans with health insurance is expected to decline by millions this year (due to the repeal of the health care tax (I forget the term they used) in the new tax law). * With CH…

> If nothing is done, the number of Americans with health insurance is expected to decline by millions this year (due to the repeal of the health care tax (I forget the term they used) in the new tax law).

This is a bad metric. We should be worried about healthcare costs, not insurance coverage. You can have "universal coverage" and still be wrong, because people are paying $5000+/year in insurance premiums they can't afford.

If it didn't cost a hundred thousand dollars to get sick then it wouldn't be a problem for people to not be insured against it.

Post reply on HN