Suicide rates climbing, especially in rural America
I come from a rural community in midwest United States.<p>It is rough. All of the factories closed. Then all of the small businesses closed. Then all of the grocery stores closed. We now have to drive almost an hour to the local Wal-Mart to get our groceries. The crime rate sky-rocketed, job rates feel, and everything went to pot. [0]<p>It is grim. I am very fortunate I arbitrarily chose &quot;Computer Science&quot; for my college degree. I make extremely good money. I could have easily ended up back in my small town trying to make ends meet.<p>Observation: A lot of my friends did not make it out and are doing great. A lot of my other friends are NOT. One false move and you are stuck with a degree nobody wants, working a shitty nowhere job to survive, and not enough time or energy to change careers.<p>IMO, The rise of the &quot;alt-right&quot; and general dissatisfaction in modern America comes from the same place: The jobs suck, the retirement sucks, the communities are car-hell, you work yourself into the grave to make someone else money and get very little back.<p>My family ran funeral homes for years, made decent money. Now my parents are in their 50s and disaster after disaster have drained their bank accounts. The community went broke, so we went broke. Thankfully, they managed to get regular 9-5 jobs around the community to support themselves, but it feels like everybody is constantly walking on a tight-rope, and one more stiff breeze is going to upset everything.<p>0: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.areavibes.com&#x2F;keokuk-ia&#x2F;crime&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.areavibes.com&#x2F;keokuk-ia&#x2F;crime&#x2F;</a>