Der Spiegel: The United States is heading towards a catastrophe that threatens to “fade out” the middle class

German Der Spiegel magazine published an article saying that life expectancy in the United States has not increased for decades, while deaths continue to rise, unlike in other developed countries.

The magazine pointed out, according to a study conducted by economic experts, that the current demographic situation in the United States particularly threatens white Americans who do not have a higher education and belong to the middle class, adding that this category “slowly dies under the burden of physical difficulties, health problems and a sense of despair that leads to increasing drug and alcohol abuse”.

According to the magazine, life expectancy in the United States is increasingly lagging behind in other industrialized countries.

Professor Angus Dayton, Nobel Laureate in economics, and American economist Ann Keyes, in their joint book, “Death from Despair”, concluded that the United States was afflicted with a disease that Donald Trump’s presidency was a symptom of, but not its cause.

The researchers stressed that the United States is heading towards a catastrophe that the media does not care about, because it is slowly and gradually unfolding.

They pointed out that the problem is not only related to the deterioration of the economic situation of the American middle class, but rather the literal meaning of the death of hundreds of thousands of Americans.

Studies conducted by the two worlds showed that all developed countries are experiencing a constant trend towards increasing life expectancy, while the United States has not recorded over the past years any increase in this indicator, in which the United States lags behind Canada and Sweden.

In almost all industrialized countries, the death rate decreases among citizens between the ages of 45 and 54, while the United States has seen a rise in this indicator compared to the end of the 1990s.

When compared to Sweden, it is clear that the odds of a middle-aged white American dying are twice as high in Sweden.

Since 1999, this number of “preventable” deaths have been around 600,000, with most of the victims being in middle age.