Deaths of Despair Are Rising Everywhere, But

Deaths of Despair Are Rising Everywhere, But…

To say we seldom agree with the other John Hood is like saying it seldom rains in Southern California. True enough, sure – we went nearly a year without a drop – but it hardly gauges the extent of either the weather or our agreeing. See, when the two John Hoods do agree, worlds literally collide. A fact that’s especially evident with the other John Hood’s recent column covering deaths of despair.

For those who don’t know, the other John Hood in question (there’s actually a third) writes an eponymous column that almost exclusively concentrates on matters concerning North Carolina. Furthermore, that column is widely syndicated to newspapers throughout the Tar Heel State, which Alerts Google, who in turn Alerts me. Consequently, I see his column nearly every day. Again though, we seldom ever agree, but I certainly respect the man. And I do get a bit of a kick on those odd times when we do agree.

That doesn’t mean I take to the page though. The odd agreeing is one thing; putting it to paper is another altogether. Heck, we seldom even mention our agreeing. No, not because it’s so rare (though there is that), but because it seldom makes sense to mention it. When the other John Hood dove into deaths of despair though, you know those caused by suicide, drug overdoses and alc

Deaths of Despair: Cause & Effect

One suspects the Carolina Hood was driven to deaths of despair less because of its rise (after all, North Carolina ranks 33rd in the nation) and more because of the reasons many folks seem to be finding for that rise.

“[M]uch of the commentary I’ve seen lately about deaths of despair is based on facile and politically charged analysis,” writes Hood, which is enough to rile anyone. Remember though, Hood’s a veteran columnist, and veteran columnists don’t leave things at a rile. They don’t lose their heads though either.

“To respond effectively to a phenomenon such as rising deaths of despair, we need to understand its causes,” writes Hood. “Looking only at raw data can lead to misunderstandings.”

And how.

Set it Up

Yes, when Hood makes a statement, he backs it up. More importantly perhaps, he’ll generally propose some sort of solution. Sure, his solutions generally skew toward the Free Market (after all, the guy is the president of the John Locke Foundation), but that doesn’t mean they shouldn’t be heard. Here, one suspects, Hood feels as if his side isn’t being heard at all.

The culprits? Anne Case and Angus Deaton, the two Princeton scholars who actually coined the term “deaths of despair.” They wrote a book about it too. A widely-acclaimed bestseller, in fact, called – you guessed it – Deaths of Despair. But there was more to the book’s title; just as there’s more to the book’s story.

Deaths of Despair and the Future of Capitalism hit the racks back in 2020, so it isn’t really clear why Hood is getting riled about it now. We’d like to say it’s because the study he’s citing dates to that year and its findings were only just released. Unfortunately, Hood doesn’t cite a corresponding study – not for his initial citings anyway.

Set it Off

What set off Hood in the first place?

Capitalism, which over two centuries lifted countless people out of poverty, is now destroying the lives of blue-collar America.

Inciteful? You bet. It certainly incited the Carolina Hood. In fact, the line quite likely incites all sorts of folks, on both sides of the aisle. That’s undoubtedly why it gets cherry-picked to begin with. And not just by opponents either.

Make no mistake though, the ladder Hood does his picking from belongs to the opponents’ team – and he’s an MVP.

Setting Up the Play

Here’s how he sets up the play:

“Anne Case and Angus Deaton argue [that the rise in Deaths of Despair] is primarily a reflection of rising inequality, inadequate social programs, and weak labor unions. Our free-enterprise system, they argue, once ‘lifted countless people out of poverty’ but ‘is now destroying the lives of blue-collar America.’”

Of course, no matter how nice a line might align with your own position, it’s still just a single line. And it can never fully represent an opponent. That’s especially so here, where the line is pulled from a book that was based upon nearly a decade of intense research, not to mention two lifetimes of insight and experience. Nevertheless, a rose is a rose, and it generally comes with thorns.

Citing Deaths of Despair

Hood’s quick to skip the part about how blanket generalizations are more inclined to incite than to represent any true findings. In fact, he doesn’t mention such a thing at all. Then again, he’s got a point to make and a limited amount of time and space within which to do so. Here, however, Hood doesn’t skip the citing part. In fact, he’s almost copious in citing the sources that bolster his argument.

Well, not quite almost. Yes, Hood mentions the Joint Economic Committee of the U.S. Congress, JAMA Psychiatry and the John Locke Foundation itself. He doesn’t include any links though. No author names either. Heck, only one citing even comes with a date. So really, aside from a couple quotes, there’s not much real citing.

But we came to concur and concur we will. Hood indicates that Congress’s JEC found “’a lack of correspondence’ between economic indicators such as poverty or inequality and the death rates in question.” He also says the JEC found “age-adjusted rates of suicide and alcohol-induced deaths (such as cirrhosis of the liver) were [not only] about the same in 2017 as they were in 1975, [but that] they declined from the mid-70s to around 2000, then went up again.” Furthermore, Hood claims “these patterns don’t comport well with attempts to finger capitalism as the culprit.”

We don’t have time to look into the roller coaster ride that took place over the last quarter of the 20th Century, so we don’t know if any particular economic indicator figured into the above equation. We do know that suicide and over-drinking are just two of the Deaths of Despair on our scorecard. So does Hood, who reminds us that the rate of the third (drug-induced deaths) “rose consistently but rather gradually during the last four decades of the 20th century then shot up dramatically during the first two decades of the 21st century.”

Where Worlds Collide

And here’s where the two worlds collide. Like the Carolina Hood, we believe states “can do a better job of making it easier for residents to obtain high-quality treatment for mental illness and addictions.” Time (again) forbids us from seeing whether or not that means we should be “loosening” certificate of need laws (which the John Locke Foundation advocates for North Carolina). We’re guessing they must play some role. Especially considering the National Conference of State Legislatures defines certificate of need laws as “state regulatory mechanisms for approving major capital expenditures and projects for certain health care facilities.”

We also agree that Capitalism isn’t completely to blame for the rise in this or any country’s deaths of despair . Has it played a significant role? You bet. Should it be held accountable? Most decidedly. But the argument’s far too nuanced for generality.

Furthermore, to blanketly single-out Capitalism is the same as blatantly dismissing the other side of the aisle. Oh, it’s highly unlikely either Anne Case or Angus Deaton were doing any such thing. They’re researchers, and researchers follow the numbers, wherever they may go. Then they publish the findings. Is it fair to say researchers hold no bias? Of course not. Just as it isn’t fair to say that they do.

Bias is Bias

Bias is bias though, and it exists everywhere. And, yes, that means you John Hood. That’s fine. You write from the Right. That’s why you believe deaths of despair are better addressed by pulling the lever marked “discourage drug use” rather than the one marked “strengthen labor unions.” Why not pull both? Wouldn’t strong labor unions help lessen deaths of despair? More importantly perhaps, wouldn’t stronger labor unions also help discourage drug use?

Yeah, we know. That’s a whole ‘nother argument. And while our two worlds will never agree on the correlation between labor unions and employment, we most certainly must concur that good jobs will reduce deaths of despair.

We also concur in the role played by having an active social life. Hood claims a study published “a couple years ago” in JAMA Psychiatry “found a strong association between [deaths of despair] rates and church attendance.” While we’re not doubting the findings, we’d likely find equally promising numbers for folks that belonged to all kinds of social groups. Singling out churches hardly seems appropriate.

Or necessary. And that gets us to the crux of things. What steps are necessary to reduce the DoD rate? Yes, more and better addiction and mental health treatment. Yes, more and better jobs. And yes, a more active social life. But how do we get there? Stating the obvious is hardly a remedy. It hardly seems necessary either.

If you or someone you love is having problems with substance abuse, please call Healing Properties. We’ll help get you sorted whatever the substance, wherever the use. Why? Because that’s what we do. And it’s what we’ve been doing since 2002.

A Note

Perhaps our most emphatic aligning with “the other” John Hood is his steadfast support of local news and newspapers. In fact, we even somewhat envy his widespread syndication. Hood’s “Deaths of Despair” column appeared in no less than three local papers, including the Greensboro News & Record, the Greenville Reflector and the Watauga Democrat. The piece also appeared in a hyper-local concern called Neuse News.

Kinston is Coming Up

Neuse News humbly calls itself “a locally-owned small business startup in downtown Kinston,” which, like our intro, doesn’t even begin to describe the extent of things. In the first place, those local owners also run Magic Mile Media, a “social first” marketing company that’s determined to level the playing field for its small(er) business and brand clients. In the second, both Magic Mile and Neuse seem to be generating a bit of a buzz in Downtown Kinston, something this town of some 20,000 souls could definitely use.

The combined enterprises also seem to be (re)generating some good old-fashioned civic pride, both because of MMM’s brand and business building, as well as NN’s acute dedication to Lenoir, Greene and Jones counties. Kinston has been through a few things since its 1762 founding, including dropping the “g” from its name in order to disavow a King and electing an all African-American City Council to quiet any lingering Civil roar. The Lenoir County seat also boasts a formidable collection of National Register-caliber Historic Places, a good few of which have been retro-fitted to house some of the town’s grandparents. Considering our hearts were already warmed by Neuse News’ intent to provide “the kind of news our grandparents read in a format fit for today’s times,” this tidbit has left them nice and toasty.

All of which is a rather roundabout way to say that we applaud Hood’s adding Neuse News to his roster as much as we applaud Neuse News itself. The Carolina Hood has always preferred using small town newspapers to emphasize his State; it stands to reason that he’d also choose to use a hyperlocal outfit like Neuse News. Hard to say whether or not this pairing represents the future of smalltown news. But it certainly fills a void. And as more and more smalltown newspapers disappear, it’s the keenest void-filler we’ve got.

Image courtesy U.S. Congress Joint Economic Committee

Deaths of Despair Are Rising Everywhere, But…