What's happening with death rates?

There's a startling and worrying piece in the New York Times about an increase in death rates since 1990 for non-hispanic whites that everyone should read. This should be a wake-up call in the public policy arena, a canary in the coal mine about the increasing hollowness at the core of Anerican life. As economist Anne Case says, "there's a real rumbling that bad things are coming down the pike." Kudos to the Times for this important and original research.