05/21/13 05/21/13 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] >> from pacifica, this is democracy now! can say this, i don't know how to explain it, how to describe it. this is terrible. this is a war zone and terrible. the school is completely gone. >> at least 91 people, including 20 children, are feared dead after a massive tornado hits moore, oklahoma. we'll get a report on the ground masters of the weathergist je

underground. then, recession hurts, but austerity kills. risingss europe we see suicides concentrated in the countries that have cut the most public-sector jobs. these are just a few of the many horrors we see from austerity. >> "the body economic: why austerity kills. recessions, budget battles and the politics of life and death." with professors from oxford in stamford on a startling new book on how austerity measures are causing a global health crisis. all of that and more coming up. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. the estimated death toll from monday's massive tornado in oklahoma stands at over 91, including 20 children. over 200 people were also wounded. the storm tore through the oklahoma city suburb of moore,

level and two elementary schools, hospitals, and scores of homes. rescue crews continued to dig through the rubble in a bid to find survivors. one witness said the tornado was so powerful, it tore open a cellar door. >> we thought we had died. we were inside and locked the cellar door when we saw it coming. it got louder. the next thing we know, you see the last coming undone and we could not reach for it. it ripped open the door and glass and debris started slamming on us. we thought we were dead, to be honest. >> monday's storm mark the deadliest tornado to hit the u.s. since 161 people were killed in joplin, missouri two years ago. president obama has declared a major disaster area in know, a -- in oklahoma. more on the tornado after headlines. guatemala's top court has overturned the genocide conviction of former u.s.-backed military dictator efraín rios montt.

in a historic verdict earlier this month, ríos montt was sentenced to 80 years for genocide and crimes against humanity in the killings of more than 1700 ixil mayan people in the early 1980's. but in a three to two ruling on monday, the guatemalan constitutional court dismissed all of the case's proceedings dating back to a month ago. it was then that the court first annulled the case amidst a dispute between the judges over jurisdiction. in the run-up to its latest decision to overturn, the court had come under heavy lobbying from rios montt supporters, including guatemala's powerful business association. ríos montt remains in a military hospital where he was a bit last week. his legal status is up in the air. he will likely be released house arrest and it is unclear when or if he will return to court. dozens of people rallied outside the justice department in washington, d.c. on monday to protest the government's failure to prosecute big banks from -- for wronging millions of

homeowners. groups including occupy our homes and the home defenders league organized the rally to demand cases against banks for misdeeds ranging from predatory lending to wrongful foreclosures. a group of demonstrators helped barricade the justice department building's front doors. at least 17 demonstrators were arrested, but some managed to spend the night outside to continue their protest today. new figures meanwhile show major u.s. banks are withholding billions of dollars of money they owe to victimized homeowners. according to the washington post, less than half of the $5.7 billion banks owe from nearly 30-government brokered settlements has been paid out the cia is reportedly gradually -- planning on gradually shifting control of its drone program to the pentagon. reuter said the shift will occur in stages with the ca continuing to carry out strikes in pakistan. president obama is expected to

discuss the drone program and other counter-terrorism efforts in his speech on thursday. the white house is defending its lead is publicly known case of targeting a journalist. the justice department tracked fox is reporter james rosen's phone records and state department visits, and even received a search warrant to read his personal emails. rosen was investigated for obtaining details of a secret government report in 2009 on north korea. the report or in the north korean regime would likely respond with more nuclear tests if the u.s. managed to win additional u.n. sanctions. the government has named rosen a potential "gaidar, a better and/or co-conspirator" in its case against rosen's alleged source, state department security adviser stephen jin-woo kim. jakarta said president obama stands behind efforts to crack down on leaks. >> he is a strong defender of the first amendment and for the

press to be able to connect investigative reporting. he is also come as a citizen and commander in chief, insisted we protect our secrets to protect classified information and that leaks that we take syria -- take seriously the leaks of classified and permission because it can endanger the lives of men and women in uniform and other americans serving overseas for our country. across the james rosen case emerged just days after it was revealed the justice department seized the work, home, and cellphone records of almost 100 ap reporters and editors without a court warrant. president obama has hosted the head of the burmese military junta in a historic visit. thein sein is the first burmese leader to visit the white house in nearly 50 years. his trip follows obama's visit to burma late last year as part of the u.s. efforts to ease sanctions in return for political reform. obama said monday's talks yielded progress on the release

of burmese political prisoners and stopping recent anti muslim violence. th tein shared with me the manner in which he intends to continue to move forward and releasing more political theoners, making sure that government of myanmar institutionalizes some of the political reforms that have already taken place, how rule of law is codified so that it continues into the future and the process whereby these ethnic conflicts that have existed are resolved not simply by a cease- fire, but in actual incorporation of all of these communities into the political process. >> a new study has found near unanimous agreement that human activity causes climate change, citing the work of over 29,000 scientists in peer review journals.

the survey's authors said the consensus on human cause global warming stands at 97.1%. addressing the efforts by industrial polluters to fund climate skepticism, the study's lead author, john cook, said -- the united nations opened its annual two week gathering on the plight of indigenous people worldwide. the chair of the 12th permit form on addition is -- indigenous issues helped kick off the proceedings. example, thereor is a misconception we are here to complain, complain, complained. we'll try to look for solutions and tried to address the plight of indigenous peoples. >> a new study shows the number of people in poverty is now greater in a server san in urban areas. the number of low-income residents in the suburbs rose

64% to 16.4 million from 2000 to 2011. urban areas saw an increase of 29% to 13.4 million during the same time. the tech giant apple is being accused of a massive tax dodging scheme that saved it tens of billions of dollars. a bipartisan senate report says apple avoided paying u.s. taxes on $44 billion in income between 2009 and 2012. the report describes a massive and unprecedented web of affiliates spanning several continents. the subsidiaries were used to hide the company's profits even in countries where apple had no employees. nearly two dozen people i've been arrested at chicago's city hall and a protest against the closures. the demonstrators staged a sit- in to denounce mayor rahm emanuel's plan to close 54 public schools, mostly in african-american neighborhoods.

the sit-in followed a march of hundreds of people in downtown chicago. the board of the chicago public schools is slated to vote on the closure plan wednesday. a class-action trial challenging the nyc police department's controversial stop and frisk policy has concluded after two months. plaintiffs in the case argued the nypd's practices are unconstitutional and unfairly target people of color. nearly 90% people stopped by police in 2011 were black and latino, and nine out of 10 were neither arrested nor ticketed. on monday, u.s. district judge scheindlin expressed interest in ordering police to wear cameras so their actions can be fully documented. the judge also criticized the effectiveness of stop and frisk, telling city attorney's "you reasonably suspect something and you're wrong 90% of the time." paralympic expected in the coming months. and more than 1000 people marched in new york city's west village monday to denounce

antigay violence following an apparent hate crime that that one man dead. marc carson, a 32-year-old gay african-american, was with a male companion when a gunman confronted the pair and followed them for several blocks. the gunman yelled an anti-gay remark before opening fire. the suspect, elliot morales, has been detained and charged. on monday, marchers honored carson's life by marching from the lgbt community center to the site where he was killed. those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. we begin today's show in oklahoma, where at least 91 people, including 20 children, are feared dead after a massive tornado tore through the oak, city suburb of moore. the storm leveled two elementary schools, hospitals and hundreds of homes. the oklahoma medical examiner has already confirmed 51 dead and has been told by emergency services to expect 40 more bodies found in the debris. area hospitals said at the 60 of the 240 people injured were

children. some of the first footage of the devastation was captured by a news helicopter operated by the tv station kfor. >> if you guys can see this, i don't know how to explain it, how to describe it. this is terrible. this is war zone-terrible. this school is completely gone. if you guys are still with me here, this damage path is right on the top right of your screen. there is the school. i am not for sure the exact name of it, but it is going to be south of forest street and east of santa fe, whatever school that is, it is going to be -- like you see, it is completely up toyed as kids run coakley their loved ones. but this whole area right here,

guys, is completely destroyed. the houses are destroyed. >> the storm was so powerful it was able to unlatch cellar doors where residents had taken refuge. this is a survivor. >> we thought we died. we were inside and unlock the cellar door when we saw it coming. it got louder. the next thing you know, you see the latch coming undone and we could not reach for it. it ripped open the door and glass and debris started signing on as. we thought we were dead, to be honest. >> witnesses reported monday's tornado appeared stronger than the massive twister that tore up the region may 3, 1999, killing more than 40 people and destroying thousands of homes. the 1999 tornado was ranked ef5, and had the highest winds ever recorded on earth. the federal emergency management agency has already begun helping

local residents. oklahoma is home to two of the senate's most vocal critics of fema, republicans jim inhofe and tom coburn. they have both opposed increased funding for fema over the years and backed a plan to slash disaster relief to victims of hurricane sandy. coburn is already assisting in the federal disaster be paid for with cuts elsewhere. to find out more about the effects of monday's tornado, we're joined on the telephone by beverly allam who lives by miles from moore, the suburb destroyed by the tornado. she witnessed the storm from a distance. her family lost everything in the may 1999 tornado. the recent tornado ripped through her old neighborhood. rosset joined via democracy now videostream by jeff masters, the director of meteorology at weather underground. beverly, what did you see? >> good morning. happenedginable has to this area once again. it was just another

unbelievable, huge the darkness that came over the land then swept everything off in its path. there is nothing that really could have survived this unless you're underground or totally under -- out of its way. >> can you explain what you saw yesterday? what time was it in the afternoon? >> this was around 2:30 p.m. and i had just left moore, oklahoma. the air quality was getting worse. you could actually feel pressure changes. you could see the dark clouds coming up. a mother rain starts spring plan. this thing came up so fast, no one could imagine it would grow into what it did so quickly. it just kept growing and growing and growing. it happened so fast. the air to starts turning and twisting and that is it. you just have to get out of the

way. >> what kind of warning was there yesterday afternoon? >> we have great warning systems. we have to give a lot of credit to our local stations. the sirens blow for a long time. several different instances. all of the communities around norman communitiesmoore, said the vote on the city, all of the sirens were going off because you never know which way these things will turn. it gave people a lot of time to really take precautions needed. >> how did this compare to what you lived through some 13 years ago? is just the same. this was a much more heavily populated area now. it is the loss of lives of all of these children that weighs so heavily on our hearts at this

time, for their families to recover. all of the grief counselors they can get. a lot of the nation's are needed. -- donations are needed. where the plaza towers school was to ground zero in new york. i don't know if they will ever be able to rebuild the school. it is now considered hallowed ground where the children lost their souls. it weighs on the minds of our civic leaders and a lot of families, just the help they need to get through this. i know they will be supplied with all the necessary tools. >> as the storm swept north to the central u.s., a kansas meteorologist date on the air as the tornado closed in on the studio. the cameras kept rolling. let's go to a clip. >> no doubt watching us right now as this storm bears down on the city of wichita. >> in 20 years i've never said this, but i think it iswe and ms

downtown but at this point, folks, ks we, kn are moving to our shelters. we are moving to our shelters. we will continue to talk with you as long as we can. we are leaving the radar image up, but it appears it is time for all of us to get to shelter. get to shelter right now. ryannow1 >> now! >> everybody, down below, let's go! >> the station, jeff masters of the urology at weather underground, if you could take it from there, if you could explain what happened, explain the tornado that struck moore, oklahoma yesterday. >> the sound you heard in that video we were just looking at, that was the sound of large hail pounding on the roof of that tv station. the weather gods have unleashed a whole gamut of bad weather for the central plains.

high winds , highhail, flooding rains and now these tornadoes. we have seen the perfect sort of classic springtime tornado whether you get several times per year in the central u.s. with a very warm, moist air from the gulf of mexico coming to the north and meeting up with very cold, dry air from canada. on top of that, dry air coming in from southwest u.s. kind of acting as a cap to some of the intense thunderstorms, allowing them to build up. when you get enough energy, the cap is broken, the updraft go speeding to the top of the atmosphere and you get these super cel thunderstorms like we saw over the past two days and will again today over some portions of the midwest. >> jeff masters, why is this area of oklahoma so vulnerable? >> poor moore, oklahoma, they have been hit by three ef4 are stronger tornadoes in the past 14 years including the most intense tornado ever measured,

302 miles per hour winds in 1999. i guess is as bad but because you expect other areas should have gotten that kind of -- bad luck because you expect other areas should have gone that pummeling, not so concentrated downtown oakland city has never been hit as bad as moore, oklahoma. i don't know how to describe what accounts for that bad luck. maybe there's some sort of terrain affect we don't understand that makes the area more vulnerable than say downtown oakland city. >> how does this tornadic compared to the one right there in 1999? >> yesterday's tornado was larger and covered a bigger area, may be at least twice as large. as far as the top wind speeds go, we're not really sure how strong the winds were in yesterday's tornado. we have been given a preliminary rating of ef4, which means 166-200 mile per hour winds by the national weather service, but they have not done detailed damaged surveys.

it is possible they will upgrade this to an ef5, which means wins an excess of 200 miles per hour. very close to a top in tornado. they don't get much stronger than this. >> you think this could be the largest in history? >> it will certainly rank up there and the top 10 or so i think. we don't have a very long history. we go back to the early 1950's as far as measuring how big the storms are. we did not have radar until the 1990's, as far as being able to look on a doppler radar how big the storms are. it is certainly going to be one of the biggest in history. we don't know if it will actually be a record-breaker yet. >> jeff, what is the connection? is there a connection between this tornado and global warming? >> that is a tough call. it is an important question. we really have a huge area of unknowns to try and answer that

question. the big problem is the target database is not very good. it only goes back about 60 years -- the tornado database is not very good it only goes about 60 years. we have a lousy data base. our computer models to study tornadoes are not very good yet. we don't understand what makes them tick very well. even with our finest research models, they cannot tell you what a tornado is going to form or do, we cannot expect our climate models to do that sort of massive either because we are a lot -- they cannot look at the fine details very well. a lot of uncertainty about how climate change may affect tornadoes. i might add over the last 12 months, we it's in the record lowest number of tornadoes in u.s. history, at least the ef 1 a stronger tornadoes, but in 2011 was on the record highest 12-month total of tornadoes.

we have been getting weather whiplashed with our tornadoes seasons. going from the extreme highest to the extreme lowest. that is really tough to say what is the trend going to be. it might be one or the other. at this point, i cannot identify what climate change is likely to do, which type of year. when the market again at >> in 2011, the head of climate analysis section of the national center for atmospheric research said -- your response to that, jeff masters? >> that is right. every weather event is substantially changed now by climate change. there is more heat in the hemisphere, more moisture. and something i've been seen the last three years is the jet stream patterns have been

getting very extreme. i have never seen my 30 years as a meteorologist the unusual sorts of jesting patterns where we get these large louis where they tend to getck place, contributing to extreme weather. whether we're going to be seen more tornadoes because of that, i don't really know because we need to change a jet stream like that, you're actually going to slow down the wind of the jet stream. we have sore wins, you get less of a twisting motion to get -- you you have aslower winds, get less twisting motion rea. how the factors will and to plan the future, we don't know. i think the doctor was right, we have to look at the changed environment that all sorts of these weather systems are in to look for it to what we will see in coming decades. >> i want to end with beverly allam, oklahoma, york to

senators are the most vocal critics of fema, the federal emergency management agency. senators inhofe and coburn rid they have both opposed increased funding for fema and backed a plan to slash disaster relief to victims of hurricane sandy, though the local congress member voted for that relief for hurricane sandy, recognizing that oklahoma was in the path of these tornadoes. what do you think about this, beverly? >> truly, i wish they would change their vote, perhaps they don't realize it is not having lived through it personally, the effects it does have and the help we really need. the sheer numbers of people displaced that need immediate homes is an incredible -- increasing number. they really need the help quickly. they cannot wait for

legislation. they need it now. they need something in place to take care of these more immediate situations. >> can you talk about these things that you know given you were completely wiped out in 1999 and lived right near or ?ork in moore yesterday >> you need immediate shelter. you have no home or a roof over your head. unless you have a good friend or family in the area, you're in your car. you have to have food, clothing. we had only the clothing on our backs and most of the family had no shoes on read literally, nothing. you have to start going to or thrift stores, local markets. we have very little money at the time. many were students. it is just a question of getting help from -- >> and the federal government?

how -- case, i didsonal not get what i was promised. then it really did hurt a lot. it made it more difficult for me. but i know these people now are suffering and they have nowhere to go. >> beverly allam, thank you for being with us. beverly lives 5 miles from moore, oklahoma, the zero, city suburb destroyed by the tornado. she witnessed it from a distance. her family lost everything in may 1999 tornado in oklahoma. the recent tornado ripped right through her old neighborhood. thank you to jeff masters, director of meteorology at the weather underground. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. when we come back, recession hurts, austerity kills. we will talk with the authors of a shocking new book, "the body economic: why austerity kills. recessions, budget battles and

the politics of life and death." stay with us. ♪ [music break]

>> this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. month, a triple suicide was reported in the seaside town of civitanova marche, italy. american couple, anna maria sopranzi, 68, and romeo dionisi, 62, have been struggling to live on her monthly pension of around 500 euros, around $650 a month, and had fallen behind on rent. because the italian government's austerity budget had raised the retirement age, mr. dionisi, a

former construction market, became one of italy's exiled ones -- older workers plunged into poverty without a safety net. on april 5, he and his wife of the note on a neighbor's car asking for forgiveness, then hanged themselves in a storage closet at home. the her brother, just up sopranzi, 73, heard the news, he drowned himself in the adriatic. those are the opening lines to a startling recent article in the new york times headlined, "how austerity kills." the authors of the peace, david stuckler and dr. sanjay basu, have just published a new book, the thing that the health impacts of austerity across the globe. the estimate there been more than 10,000 additional suicides and up to 1 million extra cases of depression across europe and the united states since governments started introducing austerity programs in the aftermath of the economic crisis. in greece, where spending on public health has been cut by 4%, hiv rates have jumped 200%

increase has seen its first outbreak in malaria since the 1970's. david stuckler is an economist and public health specialist, senior research leader at oxford university. dr. sanjay basu is a physician and epidemiologist and teaches at stanford university. together they're written a new book called, "the body economic: why austerity kills. recessions, budget battles and the politics of life and death." we welcome you both to democracy now! i'm glad you could be here together in one place. david, let's begin with you. lay out the thesis of this book. >> we and severing houris = = -- we've been looking at the great depression right through to the present great recession. what we found is recessions hurt. unemployment, job loss, unpayable debt are risks to help. but what matters is how

politicians respond. when you're making large cuts to social protections, dick intercessions into severe epidemics. >> explained. give us examples and countries. this horrific story of this triple suicide, the couple and then her brother, talk about what people -- what happens when policies go one way or the other. >> greece is in the middle of a public health disaster. s set bybudget deficit the troika, greece has cut its health sector by more than 40% read it is at a time when homeless this is escalating and austerity has further driven up youth unemployment, we've seen a chevy infections jump, largely in drug users. the malaria increase was shown to be from the cost-cutting and

mosquitos spring. healthcare access has declined substantially. pensioners have contributed to this system there into our lives. these are just a few of the many health affects increase mirrored in spain, italy, and some extent, the u.k. and u.s. we were just talking before the show about one of the suicides in spain that became very well known. i want to turn to a clip, at the time we were talking to a former democracy now! producer about this case that occurred in spain. the woman was the-- >> maya. it was spain's addiction suicide. when homes are for clothes, even if they default, they are still liable to pay back the debt. people are plunged into poverty and careers at the same time without support.

we've seen this trigger large rises in suicide. spain, italy, and greece are at the high end. >> she was 53 years old. she jumped from about any to heard that the issue is about to be convicted. she appeared on the show to talk about the suicide. former city council member, her case is especially tragic because she did not share how bad of a situation was, even with her husband. most of the people had no idea that there had been a repossession and eviction process. she was so desperate and so ashamed of the situation that she jumped out of the balcony of her apartment as court employees came to evict her. this comes two weeks after police found a man dead in his

apartment as they went into the victim from his home after repossession. the movement to stop these evictions and repossessions has been working very hard on this for almost two years. this is just the watershed. this is the one situation that has actually forced the government and opposition and banks to come to the table and talk about real reform. before this, yet evictions taking place, 500 orders every single day. movement, the 15m occupy movement in spain just over a year ago, the platform against evictions was incredibly energized. so they have been able to stop hundreds of evictions, but those are evictions of people who come to them and say, you know, my home is being repossessed, i am

facing eviction, can you help me? many people did not do this perhaps out of a sense of guilt or embarrassment, so maya's case has really been reprimanded -- shown what has happened in spain with thousands of people being left homeless after repossession and eviction. >> david stuckler, you were in spain when amaia killed herself. >> we were at the meeting and it got cut short as protests erupted on to the streets of barcelona. people were outraged at the eviction/suicide of amaia and the hardships in spain. >> on april 4, 2012, 77-year-old retired greek pharmacist shot and killed himself in the greek parliament after writing a note that blamed his suicide and economic crisis. his daughter spoke at his

funeral and said his acts have been deeply political. >> you found it unacceptable they're killing our freedom, our democracy, our dignity. you found it unacceptable as they tightened the harshness of apartheid and austerity around us. the antics of double act of surrounding our independence and keys to the country, unacceptable to greece did not knowledge is children and its children did not recognize their own country. you found the bestiality of capitalism unacceptable that it infiltrated our lives and no one tried to stop it. then you made your decision to become the fear, the death, the memory, the sorrow of our ruined lives. >> dr. sanjay basu, you found more than 10,000 additional suicides and up to 1 million extra cases of depression across europe and the united states. since when? how did to come up with these figures? >> one of the major questions we

asked, is this inevitable during a recession? recessions are bad times, could just be the effect as opposed to the affects of austerity? we used so-called natural experiments and compared regions and countries since the beginning of the recession and even before and to control people's pre-existing conditions, mental-health, and out all listen and so forth. and also compared areas with the same economic shock but have different policy responses. looking at those as compared of cases, we could find in fact during recessions inevitably suicides or allah some did not increase, but it was after austerity in particular and control and for other factors, that could statistically explain this. austerity came up as a key trigger not just for suicides, the other major causes of death. >> this is the key point here, the difference -- people and

say, well, hard times lead to very painful decisions that people make. but you are saying even an equally difficult situations, when countries opt for another ofution, the public health that community changes? >> correct. look at iceland as a contrast greece and iceland are very different, but i stand serves as a good case in point they faced debt at 800% of gdp. >> when their banks failed. >> all three major banks failed. they had invested interest mortgage-backed securities. after this, the ice and politicians decided to do something unique as compared to the rest of europe. they put the austerity plan to a public vote in the public voted instead of paying off bankers, debts in the elite republic cuts, they would instead do it

gradually. they would still bailout their banks, but over the course of time and with a great pace toward preserving social safety net. what i sent ended up doing was maintaining some of the healthiest standards in the world and the highest level of happiness. >> we were just joined by the icelandic parliamentarian birgitta jonsdottir on democracy now! here in new york. she'd just come in from iceland talking about how the recovered from the collapse of its banking system, what the country did, was to preserve its universal healthcare system. >> everybody has the same access to health and education, so even ismp ended up in november and i got exactly the same treatment as the woman working in a factory or at mcdonald's or dominance. i like that. i love that. i think that is so important. we pay just about the same amount of taxes as a u.s. tax

payers. we don't have to live in this insurance jungle. that was one of the first things. >> they preserve their health care system. >> she highlights one of the key issues here, which is that there is a great misunderstanding around debt and deficits. when we face a liquidity crisis, meaning there is a collapse in demand in the system, we actually find quite robustly through journals and consistent with our colleagues, that stimulus early on does not produce higher, longer-term debts but generates the revenue and the building of the economic cycle that allows us to pay off his mortgage and debts. by contrast, the short-term cuts and slowing the economic cycle that we find both economic and public health devastation as a result. >> after the break, i want to talk about the u.s., but, david stuckler, he said he looked at

the labour policies of places like sweden and finland in times of recession. >> it is remarkable case study. sweden faced large banking crisis, and employment jumped more than 10% -- 10 percentage points, yet suicides fell steadily. when politicians managed well, there were able to prevent a mental health crisis they had specific programs called active labour market programs that help the newly unemployed link to caseworkers to develop an action plan and returned to jobs. they treat and a, like the pandemic is, not only save us money on health care bills, but it pays for itself by helping to spur economic recovery. >> we will talk about what choices the u.s. is making with david stuckler and dr. sanjay basu, whose body is called, "the body economic: why austerity kills. recessions, budget battles and the politics of life and death." stay with us. ♪ [music break]

>> this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. disease control revealedntion recently the suicide rate in people aged 35 to 64 rose by nearly 30% over the past decade, to 17.6 deaths per 100,000. the biggest increase was seen for men in their 50s, where the suicide rate increased 50%. overall, suicides are now greater cause of death in the u.s. than car accidents. the cdc director recently spoke to pbs newshour. >> we don't know what specifically is causing it, but the trend has been consistent

and if anything our members would under estimate the gravity of the problem. even one death from suicide is a terrible tragedy, but many are preventable. we know in times of financial stress, there is generally an increase in suicides. we also know this is a generation that grew up at a time when they expected more than some had been able to achieve in their lives, and also that they are stressed with what their kids are going through and their parents are going through. in some ways, the sandwich generation. >> that was the cdc director on pbs. we're joined by david stuckler and dr. sanjay basu, authors of, "the body economic: why austerity kills. recessions, budget battles and the politics of life and death." david stuckler is a senior research leader at oxford university. dr. sanjay basu is an assistant professor of medicine and epidemiologist at stanford university. , doctor, to respond

those comments? >> i agree with his comment. what we have found in our research is the suicide rates seem to correspond quite closely to state level unemployment rates. in particular, when we do these long-term studies that track individuals before, during, and after the recession we can control for their pre-existing mental health statistically and find it is the new unemployment that seems to trigger a new onset of depression and suicide, particularly among our most honorable, adults over 52 when they lose a job or often discriminated against or have a very hard time finding new work. there's a great deal of shame in it is quite hard for our healthcare system also to access those individuals given the degree of barriers they have to existing mental-health. >> what is unusual for us in this country compared to other countries is when we lose our jobs, we lose our health insurance.

>> and we do have some safety nets in the form of medicaid and medicare, but it is quite true there are some large holes in the system as has been repeated time and again. >> during an interview on fox news in february, republican senator lindsey graham of south carolina suggested slashing healthcare to stop scheduled sequester cuts from "destroying the military." >> the commander in chief came up with the idea of sequestration, destroying the military and putting a lot of good programs at risk. here is my belief. let's take obamacare and put it on the table. you can make $86,000 a year ending, and still get a government subsidy under obamacare. obamacare is restoring health care in this country. people are leaving the private sector because their companies cannot afford to offer obamacare. if you want to find $1.20 trillion in the next decade, let's look at obamacare. let's don't destroy the military and just cut bliley across the board.

>> david stuckler, can you respond to senator gramm? >> austerity and help is a false economy, a cliche and out to prevention is worth a cure. it is true. new york city officials found that in 99 days when they cut by $120 million but ended up with a drug resistant tb opera that cost more than $1.2 billion to control. we found smart investments and public health and have a return on investments in each dollar up to $3. >> so talk about the health care howem, dr. sanjay basu, sequester fits in and also just what lindsey graham was talking about, obamacare. >> i am not a politician. i do analyze data. looking comparatively among oecd countries, ec a lot of false claims about the health system.

moree call so much incentive beginning last three of the comparing our country to other oecd stations provide some -- >> you're talking about european countries'. >> japan, australia, and so forth. you can see the knicks are looking at the data. the theory is, maybe just american obesity. actually the cause started well before american obesity and does not seem to correspond statistically to obesity. maybe it is we have an older population, but not so. switzerland pays more in elderly care. maybe it is just technology. we do a lot of research and development rid but if you look at the sec data, the r&d pharmaceutical industry -- >> research and development. >> while they have a higher revenue than any other industry, they spent almost double on marketing as compared to

research and development. while we do use more technology and tend to have some hire classroom technology, it does down explain the majority. what you do see if you just look at the raw data is we get more incentives in order to test the people who are covered in order to bill more. there are many companies making quite a bit of money on that margin. you could one hospital across town of the charged double or more of what another hospital has and a different side of town, but it is not like a consumer market. if i am in a car accident, i cannot say, surgeon, hold my hand i'm going to go across town to compare prices for a minute. healthcare is a different kind of industry in which we have what is called market failure by the nobel prize winner back in the 1960's. people ignored his work. i think we have is a system where we confuse inequality with

choice. the majority of our costs come from, conditions and a small -- small number of patients to have problems with diabetes, heart prevention. we need more prevention than we need paying for the icu care. this is a theme you follow in your book, i want to go back to the depression. going back to the great depression and the new deal, this is president franklin delano roosevelt speaking in 1933. >> and three months since i've talked with the people of this country about our national problems, many things have happened. the major part of the well-being of the average citizen. in the short space of these few months, i am convinced at least 4 million have been given employment. saying it another way, 40% of those seeking work have found. that does not mean, my friends,

that i am satisfied or that you are satisfied that our work is ended. we have a long way to go, but we are on the way. we come to the relief for a moment of those who are in danger of losing their farms or their homes. i have publicly asked for closure on farmers, cattle, hogs be delayed until every mortgagor and the country impunity to take advantage of federal credit. and i may be for the request that if there's any family in the united states about to lose its home or farm, that family should telegraph at once the the farm credit in ministration or the home loan corp. in washington, requesting their help. >> that was president franklin roosevelt in 1933. i think this is going to be very interesting for a lot of people listening and watching this today. david stuckler, the choices made

then and the choices being made today? >> completely different. roosevelt possible steps at a time when that is -- that is 180% of gdp, to say americans from homelessness. we have studied the effects of his landmark program, the new deal, on health. what we found is comparing the states, the red and blue states that pushed it to different degrees, the blue states tended to go further with the new deal and the red states. polarization and public health issues across the u.s. it helped reduce suicides, reduce tuberculosis and ammonia. the biggest and most one of the most effective health programs on u.s. soil. >> when your politicians today say, we've got to cut obamacare and health care in this country, talk about what you found, what it means for the economy to invest in public

health. >> investing in public health is a wise choice in good times and urgent necessity in the worst of times. had a steady but organized like a clinical trial, it would've been discontinued given the evidence of its deadly side effects. there is an alternative choice that we found in the historical data and to the present recessions, that when we place people and are held at the center of economic recovery, it can help get our economy back on track faster and get blasting dividends to our society. >> the issue of the west nile outbreak, can you talk about that? >> down a bakersfield, california, there was a suspicion about things dropping from the sky people dropping from this -- people showing up at the hospital. it was range from polio to heatstroke, but it was it was now outbreak that was found through research the abandoned

and foreclosed homes had stagnant water in swimming pools and other locations that were breeding mosquitoes. this led to a rather large west nile outbreak. indeed, the reason why it was discovered was something called the california encephalitis project where a group of public laboratories that work in concert with the cdc and ironically after helping control the outbreak, they were closed due to budget cuts. >> i want to turn to the issue of drug abuse. a recent film by vice has renewed attention to the drug crisis in greece, particularly the use of the new drug called sisa. the mainhe head of anti-drug center in greece. >>

>> the head of the main anti- drug center in greece. david stuckler, talk about that and also related illness relate it to hear. >> this is a devastating situation we are seeing with the drug crisis escalating at a time when drug prevention are being cut. with gaping holes, people are

becoming desperate, turning to the means of self harm. andave seen drug use infected needles spread of hiv, increased to 1%. what we can learn from these mistakes and successes and policies is that recessions can hurt but austerity kills. when politicians make smart choices to protect people during hard times, it does not happen at the expense of recovery. >> here in the u.s., how that translates into policy? >> currently, we're facing a large sequester in the u.s. while it is too early to see the full health consequences, what we are seeing is women's and children's health program that provides additional subsidies to women will be forced to reduce the subsidies

from 600,000 from women in the program which is a link to reducing infant mortality. we're also seeing large cuts to public housing budgets at a time when one part of 4 million homeless are still in foreclosure. we are concerned if done rapidly and indiscriminately, budget cuts in the u.s. could create a repeat of the disasters we're seeing in europe. >> final comment, but most shocked to in writing your book? >> coming from the public health field, with something called a precautionary principle, which is when an idea or policy is controversial, we should first do whatever protect people the most. what we're doing is entirely the opposite. essentially, we had a massive untested experiment which has failed. it sounds like it is quite deadly given all of the data through history. >> thank you for being with us, dr. sanjay basu, an epidemiologist at stanford university, david stuckler at oxford university.

the new book out today, "the body economic: why austerity kills. recessions, budget battles and the politics of life and death." [captioning made possible by democracy now!] >> please stand by >> please st. >> we cannot do this without your support. 4334 to become a member of link tv and support and dependent media. we will turn to a world renowned economist richard wolf. he's taught for decades at university of massachusetts and now at new school in new york has come out with a new book "democracy at work: a cure for capitalism." a few months ago, he gave this address. >> i want to try to begin by telling you where we are in this economic crisis.

then i am going to try to explain to you how and why it comes to be that the government of the united states, like the government and many other countries, have been so stunningly unsuccessful in bringing this disaster to an end. then, in the most ambitious part of all, i am going to try to suggest to you what the solution to this crisis will be, must be, should be. and it is not something that the government has done, but it is something i am going to argue at the end the government should have taken the lead long ago in doing. now, just soright you understand, this crisis, which began in december of 27 -- 2007, which makes it almost five years old now, and there is no end in sight.