I just saw a news report on CNN . . . . .

[mrmitchell]

I wonder how the life expectancy in depressed areas of the USA is

(For example, East Arkansas, New Jersey, parts of New Orleans pre or post Katrina, etc)

edit:

from the article:

A child born in the Calton - locals always prefix a "the" to Calton - arrives into an environment saturated by drink, drugs, smoking and poor diet.

Like Ray Nagin said in one of his speeches immediately after Katrina, no one likes to talk about it, but in a lot of places in the US the flow of drugs and booze is just plain huge. Add that to what people love to talk about, a poor diet and smoking, and you see we have a problem.