The 1970s set off a kind of a vicious cycle that led to a concentration of wealth increasingly in the hands of the financial sector, which doesn’t benefit the economy. Concentration of wealth yields concentration of political power, which, in turn, arrives to legislation that increases and accelerates the cycle. . . Take a look at what’s happening right now. The big topic in Washington that everyone concentrates on is the deficit. For the public, correctly, the deficit is not much of an issue. The issue is joblessness, not a deficit. Now there’s a deficit commission but no joblessness commission. . . The public wants higher taxes on the wealthy and to preserve the limited social benefits. The outcome of the deficit commission is probably going to be the opposite. . . Well, now the world is indeed splitting into a plutonomy and a precariat, again in the imagery of the Occupy movement, the 1 percent and the 99 percent.
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[T]he Veterans Administration now estimates that a veteran dies by suicide every 80 minutes. The problem is systemic and growing. Tomorrow, the Center for a New American Security will issue the report “Losing the Battle: The Challenge of Military Suicide.’’ In a compelling narrative, the authors, Dr. Margaret Harrell and Nancy Berglass, provide workable recommendations to address this national crisis. But perhaps the study’s longest-lasting contribution is its explanation of why we, as a nation, should care at all. There has always been the do-gooder answer – that this is what we owe to the men and women who have fought in Iraq and Afghanistan. But the suicide crisis is really about the future of our military. The shocking number of suicides in the all-volunteer force will make recruitment of the best talent vastly more difficult. Heartstrings aside, if service in an all-volunteer army comes to be associated with depression and misery, then solving the problem is as crucial for the next war as the ones now winding down. This simple fact – that the fight against suicide is both about the individual and the institution – means the military can’t rest until its suicide rate is as low as that of the general population. And it must understand the different needs of those who have served and those who still wear the uniform.
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