It seems fairly obvious Europe needs to rethink austerity programs. It is not working and they are losing their countries' brain trust.
The USA has a great deal to be thankful for in the leadership of President Obama. He rescued us and upheld the dignity of the American people. He is a hero in every way.
In Veneto, Italy, Stefano Zanatta leads a support group for struggling business people.
...The economic downturn that has shaken Europe for the last three years has also swept away the foundations of once-sturdy lives, leading to an alarming spike in suicide rates. Especially in the most fragile nations like Greece, Ireland and Italy, small-business owners and entrepreneurs are increasingly taking their own lives in a phenomenon some European newspapers have started calling “suicide by economic crisis.
Many, like Mr. Tamiozzo and Mr. Schiavon, have died in obscurity. Others, like the desperate 77-year-old retiree who shot himself outside the Greek Parliament on April 4, have turned their personal despair into dramatic public expressions of anger at the leaders who have failed to soften the blows of the crisis.
A complete picture of the phenomenon across Europe is elusive, as some countries lag in reporting statistics and coroners are loath to classify deaths as suicides, to protect surviving family members. But it is clear that countries on the front line of the economic crisis are suffering the worst, and that suicides among men have increased the most...
It doesn't end there. The violence against women has increased as well. I can't help but wonder if 'friends networks' that are globally connected help some people 'problem solve.'
Almost 19,000 women aged between 15 and 88 sought state help to find emergency housing in 2008-09, showing the previously hidden scale of domestic-violence "migrants" forced out of their homes. Sixty per cent, or 11,300 victims, found shelter at a women's refuge – many of which are overstretched and facing unprecedented cuts.
A separate study, also being presented today, reveals for the first time the true level of cuts to frontline services for domestic-violence victims. Two-fifths of organisations working with victims of sexual and domestic abuse have laid off staff in the last 12 months, while 28 per cent have cut essential services such as outreach and children's workers to keep refuge beds open....
