Across the United States, officials are becoming worried the plummeting economy is turning people to violence. In some places, suicide-prevention hotlines are jammed, mental-health counselors are overwhelmed, and domestic-violence shelters are packed. Unfortunately, statistics indicate the worst is yet to come.

Stunning, and sobering, headlines are hitting the presses in recent days.

There is a sense of desperation sweeping the nation. In Los Angeles, last week a former investment money manager fatally shot his wife, three sons and his mother-in-law before taking his own life. Forty-five-year-old Karthik Rajaram left a suicide note saying he was in financial trouble and contemplated killing just himself, but then decided it was more honorable to kill his entire family.

Incidents in which people kill spouses and pets, attack law enforcement officers, and destroy property before killing themselves are on the rise. But the most alarming aspect may be that if history proves true, the worst is yet to come.

In the past, national rates of suicide typically lag economic downturns by approximately two years. The current financial crisis has been called the worst since the Great Depression, and only really got under way this past January.

Commenting on the Rajaram murder-suicide, Deputy Police Chief Michel Moore said, “This is a perfect American family … that has absolutely been destroyed, apparently because of a man who just got stuck in a rabbit hole, if you will, of absolute despair. It is critical to step up and recognize we are in some pretty troubled times.”

The headlines keep rolling in: In Tennessee, a 57-year-old woman shot herself when the sheriff’s deputies came to serve an eviction notice.

And with the nation in the midst of one of the worst housing crises in decades, many more people are going to be coming under financial pressure. Already, one in four homeowners owes more on his mortgage than his house is worth.

There is, however, a solution for America’s economic and social problems. You can solve your financial worries, but it involves a core change in your way of life. You can begin by reading “The Cause of the Crisis People Won’t Face,” “Storm-Proof Your Financial House,” and Repentance Toward God.