Politicians and policy makers KNOW what the social consequences of economic austerity policies will be, but they so act anyway. Why?! An increase in the suicide rate (observed in many societies and across time) is merely one, perhaps the most spectacular, consequence. Here is a small collection of articles and books on this topic, a paltry introduction to a broad and deep problem that politicians and the corporate media seem to prefer that you would overlook.
Yves Smith, "Hidden Cost of Greece, Euro Crisis: Suicides," Naked Capitalism, 20 September 2011.
Jonathan Schell, "Cruel America," The Nation, web edition 28 September 2011; print edition 17 October 2011.
"Budget decisions do not involve the death penalty, yet for many they are matters of life and death."
Christopher Humphrys, "Greece is slipping into the abyss," The Telegraph, 01 October 2011
"Joe Biden: There Will Be A Huge Increase In Murders And Rapes If The Federal Government Doesn't Spend More Money To Help The Economy," The Economic Collapse, 12 October 2011.
The Economic Collapse blog has many articles on the subject of the social consequences of economic decline.
James Gilligan. Why Some Politicians Are More Dangerous Than Others. Polity, 2011.
Book information: Publisher; Google Books; Amazon.com.
William Davies, "The Political Economy of Unhappiness," New Left Review, No. 71, September-October 2011.
Christopher Torchia, "Greece: crisis takes toll on health," Associated Press, 09 October 2011.
For The Lancet article itself, see the next item:
Alexander Kentikelenis, et al., "Health effects of financial crisis: omens of a Greek tragedy," The Lancet, Early Online Publication, 10 October 2011.
Kentikelenis's (Cambridge Univ) other work includes:
Alexander E. Kentikelenis, "Assessing the Link between Financial Liberalization and Saving," ESDS International Case Study, January-March 2009.
Chloe Hadjimatheou, "Confronting suicide as Greek social problems mount," BBC World Service, 17 October 2011.
Mario Queiroz, "Portugal: Crisis Pushes Women into Prostitution," IPSNews, 19 October 2011.
I think people need to understand their society as it actually exists, rather than indulging in the comfortable fantasies that politicians and propagandists promote. (Note: the main venues and disseminators of those fantasies are corporate news media and entertainment.) The following book may help some people acquaint themselves with real data.
Sasha Lilley, "Snapshot of America," Against the Grain, KPFA, 27 July 2011.
A fifty minute discussion with Cynthia Enloe (Wikipedia; Clark Univ) and Joni Seager (Bentley Univ). Enloe and Seager are authors of:
The Real State of America Atlas: Mapping the Myths and Truths of the United States. Penguin, 2011. [Publisher; Google Books; Amazon.com.]