Libertarian idealism in action:

Suicide rate climbing as economy falters

Recently we've had a wide-ranging discussion with Cato who has been defending libertarian idealism. When ask what he's been doing to fight for his libertarian ideals, Cato said he doesn't accept welfare and refuses to use public transit. If those are the qualifications, then more than 95 percent of people living in Wisconsin and Minnesota fall into that category. Of course, it's rather easy for a middle-class, employed White male professional who commutes to the Twin Cities to work to not use public transportation and avoid welfare. In the spirit of the pick-yourself-up-by-your-own-bootstraps mentality, here's an interesting story of people in Taiwan have been doing with their bootstraps as their economy worsens.
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With many families facing bleak economic prospects, the suicide rate is climbing.
Taiwan's crude death rate from suicide hit an all-time high of 18.8 per 100,000 people last year, the National Suicide Prevention Center (NSPC) under the Department of Health (DOH) reported.

According to DOH tallies, suicide was the ninth most frequent cause of death in Taiwan last year, with crude mortality (unadjusted by age) surpassing the previous record of 18.73 persons per 100,000 recorded in 1964.

Since the NSPC was inaugurated in January this year, local hospitals and clinics have been required to report every attempted suicide case. NSPC tallies show that 9,285 people tried to end their own lives in the first six months of this year, or an average of 51.3 persons per day.

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