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Does Recession Lead to Mass Murder?
With news of a new mass murder seemingly every few days, experts are trying to puzzle out if there's a connection between the attacks. Eight shootings have claimed 57 lives in just the last month, including 13 killed in a massacre in Binghamton last Friday, and some experts say that stress from the weak economy might be to blame for the recent outbreak of homicides. "The economic pie is shrinking to the point where it looks more like a Pop Tart and some feel all they're getting is the crumbs," one criminologist told The Washington Post. "There's a combination of feeling despair and hopelessness at the same time as a certain degree of anger and blame." Since that Post article was written, yet another attack took place, with four shot and one dead at a Korean Christian retreat in California after a gunman opened fire.




Spiritual bankruptcy is so devastating and yet the easiet to overcome with help from friends, family and the divine. It becomes so much more tragic when the cause is unethical, immoral and unscrupulous material world. Be in the world not of it.
For years financial experts ( I don't mean overpaid pundits) have been warning that too many people are two paychecks away from bankruptcy. And, here we are. Desperate people do desperate, irrational things and murder is one of them.
I can't help but wonder if Wong killed people at the immigration center because he was afraid of competition for any jobs that became available?
The increase in family annilators is terrifying and, yet, I'm sure the thinking is "it's better to take them with me than leave them to fend for themselves."
For three decades we have allowed the social safety net to fray. There is very little help for working & middle class families that fall on hard times and we're seeing the disasterous results.
Squiggy ,you are so right, but ....people are spiritually bankrupt. Honestly,devastated.Many Family dinners are not being held , in the size of before,in both religions,we talk about Iran, Irag,politics, fashions, people are so destroyed,morrally and financially. Not everyone can hold on,have you seen what the credit cards are doing to people in debt?Again people are getting sick and tired of laot of politics,and no relief for the working people. There are no new jobs or help for buss, for persons who want to work, they are in China, India Mexico, Guatemla,Billions and not a drop to drink.!!!! People say to me the middle class is disspearing,well that brings,envy, despair, and anger.I m not saying it is the right answer,but there is sadness in peoples eyes feeling beaten down and yes,religions are in question, some will cling and some feel abandoned.There is no reason, that in this beautiful country of ours, with helpfull ,giving Americans,a few raped and hurt all.!!!The greed has sunken us.nd how is all this blabbering 24 hours a day helping people.!!!!And alot of persons,are loosing faith, the stimulus, is not solving correctly anything.Yes, there starts to be an angry tone,people feel wronged and see no relief.Happy Holidys to all.!!!But crime will be on the rise, I hope I am trully wrong!!!.that is not the answer., we know its not.Sitting in your friends house if your friend can afford to invite, you or cant spend ,after you were foreclosed, and your credit cards, shut down, and you lost your job or buss.and you have 3 children or were going to retire...........and are worth nothing, some people start to loose hope. I dont see enough being done to help the individual persons and families, with all the money going around.and no one cares bout the Iraqui, and Afghanistans when your dollrs cant put food on the table.
No lax gun license laws leads to rampages.
Real simple.
Should read:
No.
Lax gun license laws leads to rampages.
Real simple.
People are at their wit's end. Our society makes it so that we live right next to each other, but could give a damn about one another.
People cry out and practically scream for help and no one gives a damn until they take up a gun and kill others.
We have no compassion, no common courtesy, no respect for ourselves, each other, the earth or its other inhabitants (animals, sea creatures, plants, etc.).
Society seems to think if it sticks its head in the sand and doesn't hear the cries of those weeping it won't get it's butt shot off.
Society these days also gives big hugs to thugs, diamond lights for those who start fights, and full visual license to who commit violence.
As I always say in here, if we lived by the Golden Rule there would need to be no other. AND that the law should equal us all - but alas...my utopia still evades.
While lax gun laws may lead to murder the problem we are seeing now needs to be laid at the door of the people responsible. Fox News and the nut jobs out there such as Rehab Rush and his band of monkey spanking reprobates. They prey on the minds of the weak and incite them to riot. Remember that the next time you want to pass on the lies that leak out of the spittle filled mouths of these idiots.
Apparently the murder rate declined during the Great Depression, so there seems to be another dimension that isn't purely economic in this recession. I don't claim to know what it is, but it cannot be a good thing that radio/TV extremists are whipping up their followers to believe things like (a) Michelle Bachman - Obama will force "re-education" on our youth, or (b) Glenn Beck - FEMA is building underground establishments for concentration camps.
Your utopia never existed regardless. Yes some people over history took stands and some cared for their fellow man but the abuse has continued in all countries and always will because of the very nature of man. People, such as yourself, will always lament why oh why cannot we not be better but the reality is that man is not, nor will he ever be, pefect and to use that as a yardstick? Only makes one sound noble...and that and a quarter will buy you a cheap cup of coffee.
The question is not the wrongness of our fixation with guns and lax gun laws.
The question is how the he// do we stop this and get sane? How do strong gun control laws that will totally change the culture get legislated?
How do we marginalize the craziness of the gun worshipers' paranoia?
Here is a link for gun crimes up 1973-2006. Economics seem to be a factor if you overlay recessions.
http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/glance/guncrime.htm
It's more likely advocating violence by elected officials (Bachman and others) and the MSM (Fox) leads to killing.
Its not the gun control. The forefathers did not plan on people owning machine guns and weapons of mass destruction,at home !!! a gun, a shotgun a rifle for hunting or protection,!!! but every one has access to mass destruction machinery.and in the hands of nuts, or ill, or psychos, or people blinded by rage and depression,,frustration, and envy, or sick and untreated,we have a big problem.!! and again its all blah,blah talk and masacres continue to happen.There is no excuse
This comment has been removed by The Daily Beast's editors.
Yeah,these evil guns--They get up in the middle of the night when everybody is sleeping-jump out of the bureau drawers-load themselves and go on rampages. I wish we had not had guns in 1776--We would have the honor of living under the royal family and calling the queen "mum"--Fighting for our liberty was a crock.The Minutemen should have been rounded up and their weapons confiscated.
All this is malarkey of course-The blame game-No one is responsible for anything they do-Someone else or something else made them do it.-Blame the parents(He was abused) Blame the Economy(Hey,the poor guy lost his job,no wonder he started shooting--I'm 67 years old and I've lost several jobs in my life both from layoffs and outright being canned--It never once crossed my mind to shoot anybody--And I have a slew of firearms--But don't worry,I've got the little bastards locked up so they can't get out and start shooting people.
It's 10:36pm where I'm at, and I can no longer pull up this article at the Post....HUH?
The page has been moved. Anyone care to share more of what the article was about?
Thank you.
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