DOCUMENTING DEATH

Sadly—and tragically— powerful folk in this country are hell bent on pursuing a political economy of death. They organize, invest piles of money behind candidates and research institutes, and consistently flex on working class and poor people— all in a concerted effort to instantiate a world where finance rules unhindered and all of life is revolved around market mania.

It’s a world where, ideally, government is ousted from any involvement in promoting and protecting basic human rights, individuals are told that they—and they alone— are responsible for their economic well-being, and all are implored to pay obeisance to the god of economic growth. It’s a world where there’s no unions, no minimum wage laws, no universal health insurance, no social safety nets to catch people who fall through capitalism’s cracks, no unemployment insurance, no regulation of industry, no substantive constraints on ecological degradation, no protection of reproductive rights, and “light” taxation of the wealthy.

And it’s a political economy of death because movement toward this kind of world is a movement that leaves bodies in it’s wake. A movement that results in hundreds of thousands, if not millions, dying prematurely and needlessly. A movement, so to speak, where some of our loved ones, our friends, our neighbors, our crew members, our cut buddies come up “missing” because deadly public policies snatch them from our midst and, again, does so prematurely and needlessly.

DOCUMENTING DEATH

A recent study by Jacob Bor and his colleagues brings this home in a powerful way. Drawing on data from the Human Mortality Database (HMD) and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), these researchers pose—and seek to answer— the question:

How many deaths could have been averted if the U.S. had a mortality rate that was equal to that of other rich countries?

That number started increasing in the 1970s, rising to 626,353 in 2019, jumping to 991,868 in 2020, and climbing even further to 1,092,293 in 2021.

Just to be clear, what they’re saying for instance, is this:

In 2019, 656,000 deaths could have been averted if the United States’ mortality rate was equal to the lower rate that characterized other rich countries. Or:

In 2020, 922,000 Americans would have still been with us if the U.S. mortality rate did not exceed but, instead, equaled the rate of other comparable countries. Or, finally:

1.1 million would have still been alive in 2021, if the United States’ mortality rate was identical to the lower rate other rich countries have managed to secure.

What’s more, these researchers find over half of these 2021 “excess” deaths is accounted for people under the age of 65.

These are people who are checking out early and needlessly. And large numbers of them are under 65 years old.

COLOR CODED

And all of this is color and coded. Larger percentages of total Blacks than Whites are dying prematurely and needlessly. In 2021—to cite one instance— there were 450,741 total Black deaths. Of that total, half—224,197— could have been averted were the mortality rates of the U.S. and other wealthy countries comparable.

For Whites, there were 2,552,108 total deaths in 2021, with 29% of those deaths being attributable to disparities in mortality rates between the U.S. and other rich countries.

Cut it however you want but the fact remains: There’s huge numbers of people in this country who are being snatched, so to speak, from our midst—people who could still be with us and not missing were our mortality rate more in line with that of other wealthy countries.

THE PRICE WE PAY

Bor’s analysis suggest that this is the price that’s imposed on the rest of us when those in power elect to pursue a political economy of death; that is, a decision on the part of the wealthy to fight tooth and nail against the types of social policies that other rich countries have adopted. Policies that have contributed to a growing wealth divide, stagnating wages, hostility toward unions—along with structural racism, a refusal on the part of some states to expand Medicaid, and an overall underinvestment in public health and social safety net programs.

People are—and have been— paying for this type of political economy with their very lives. They die deaths that could have been averted. Hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of our friends, our church members, our neighbors, and our loved ones are dying needlessly, being robbed of additional years in which they could’ve realized more dreams, contributed more, played more, laughed more, and loved more.

These deaths are a moral catastrophe. They’ve got nothing to do with people being “called home” by God or heaven wanting “another angel.” And to say so is to divinize something that ought to be dammed.

They checked out early—needlessly— because of the machinations of a political economy of death. And that needs to be called out and resisted. That needs to be fuel to continue the fight to build something better, more beautiful, and more just than that which exist. Catch you on the flip side,

Doc Greene