Curt Greer, in his June 17 letter to the editor, made a statement that a unemployment increase of 1 percent will cause 10,000 additional deaths in America. I wish Mr. Greer would stop quoting Fox News or whatever source he has. Reviewing CDC deaths from 1999 to 2005 and the annual population growth of our country, it show 820 to 850 deaths per 100,000 in those years, The great recession of 2008 through 2011 where unemployment was around 10 percent at its worse and millions of people lost their homes. High stress, right? The rates varied 794 to 812 per 100,000. A drop! The year the great recession was over in 2014, the rate was back up to 824 per 100,000 and has increased to 878.2 per 100,000 in 2019.
The only way to statistically verify that 1 percent figure is the way I did, there is no other way outside of anecdotal data. The statistics shows that unemployment does not increase the death rate in our country, but appears to actually decrease it. People seem to like “bumper sticker facts.” The truth took me two hours of work this morning, but that is how I know the truth.
Chuck Best
Duvall
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
