It's My Party (and I'll Cry If I Want To)

Last year the Golden Gate Bridge was the last stop for 33 people.

If you threw a party and nobody came, you'd likely assume they had other plans, or else maybe they got the date wrong. But what if everyone showed up, but many of the guests just had such a bad time, they left early? You might rethink your party plans next time around. Here at the party that we call Life, people are leaving in droves. No doubt about it--suicide is gaining momentum. In the last decade, the number of people voluntarily leaving this party early was greater than the number of people killed in car crashes on the way. In 2010, that number was 38,364, about 5,000 more than accident victims. 

The dead are mostly working-age men in their 50s, many of whom suffered great financial losses in the stock market, or lost their jobs and suddenly were homeless and heavily in debt. In the Obama administration's budget for next year, an extra $2 million has been earmarked for trying to help some of that demographic in some way. That's nice, but when you consider that the very same government spent at least $4.5 million on ads that ran during the two weeks of the London Olympics, or $2.7 million to study why lesbians seem to engage in hazardous drinking more than other people, or $3.6 million annually supporting the lavish lifestyles of former presidents such as George W. Bush and Bill Clinton, it's not that nice.