Austerity measures aren't just a bad idea for our economy... it turns out that drastic cuts are also a death sentence for many of the people they impact. According to a recent article on TruthOut.org, a slew of academic reports have found that people are literally dying in nations that have imposed the harshest cuts. In Greece, for example, suicide rates increased 45 percent since 2007, and the infection rates for diseases like HIV and tuberculosis have more than doubled just since 2012.
The drastic cuts to municipal budgets reduced mosquito-spraying programs, and malaria has re-appeared in Greece for the first time in 40 years. Austerity measures have slashed unemployment benefits and medical coverage in that country so badly, that even prenatal health services are no longer available to many woman. Since 2008, stillbirths have increased by more than 20 percent, and the infant mortality rate has jumped by 43 percent. These numbers show that the problems with austerity go far beyond economics. Cutting budgets on the backs of those who have the least to spare has sent many to an early grave.
Austerity has done so much damage that a well-known Greek economist said that any savings that result from budget cuts are built on “blood money.” That pretty much sums it up. Austerity is already killing people in Greece, and it will do the same in our nation if we don't reverse extreme budget cuts. No nation, in the history of the world, has ever cut its way to prosperity. People all around the world are refusing to accept this economic death sentence, and we must do the same here at home.
