Yet another federal government sociological study reveals the high human and economic cost of unemployment. The research, conducted by Marcel B‚dard, an economist with the federal Human Resources Department, states that the economic and social costs of 10 percent unemployment are as much as $91 billion a year. Canada's 1994 jobless rate of 10.4 percent, according to the study, resulted in $77 billion in lost productivity. The output losses include direct budgetary costs to federal and provincial governments. Since fewer goods are produced, governments collect less in taxes and pay out more in social assistance and unemployment benefits. He estimates another $14 billion in health, crime and other social costs citing a rise in rates of death, homicide, suicide, heart disease, admission to psychiatric hospitals and imprisonment due to unemployment. The study reveals a direct link between unemployment and malnutrition among the poor, resulting in chronic disease. It also finds "generally higher stress levels in low-income groups, associated with mental disorders, alcoholism, suicide, accidents, heart disease and other illnesses due to high blood pressure.... Beyond the direct productivity costs of unemployment (there is a) toll on physical and mental health, marriages and communities." Mr. B‚dard reviewed existing research and discovered "strong indications that unemployment can cause higher levels of illness, premature death and crime." Mr. B‚dard said in an interview defending his work: "We have to take account of those costs when we are talking about unemployment." In discussing these consequences of unemployment the study also states that: "The unemployed are not the only ones to suffer the consequences of these problems.... Taxpayers also pay a price, in terms of additional costs for health care, policing, social tension, loss of human resources and so on." B‚dard says that the years of high unemployment are a significant factor contributing to the annual government deficits and accumulated public debt. This is all very well and good, but what use is this information? It is as if people are surrounding a person dying of cancer and are poking at the tumors that have spread throughout the body, describing them in detail and marvelling at their destructive capabilities but seemingly disinterested to discover the cause of this savage illness and equally unconcerned that the patient is on the verge of death. This is not science; it is pseudo-science. It portrays animals pacing about a natural phenomenon incapable of comprehending its laws and discovering the path forward to progress. From studies such as these there will be those that find the figures strangely appealing and positive, that in a twisted Malthusian manner, unemployment is "good for the overall health" of the capitalist economy, keeping wages down and opening up new investment opportunities. Social-democrats and liberals will seize on the figures and arbitrarily pick a lower unemployment percentage as a policy objective. None will actually propose a scientific solution to the economic crisis because that endangers the very existence of the capitalist class. Shawgi Tell University at Buffalo Graduate School of Education [EMAIL PROTECTED]