I think when things generally get harder and the well-being of a good majority of the population is low, I would say people would tend to get more selfish, only looming out for themselves and their families. Public decorum would be a scarce trait as there would be anger and restlessness amongst the people. As things get worse, the humanity in people would gradually lessen and eventually become almost non existent.
There is always something you and I can do. And as for speaking out and supposedly being silenced, perhaps you aren’t being silenced and just maybe, you haven’t got an audience yet that would listen to what you’ve got to say.
As for our reducing lifespan, our choices in life which includes our habits and diet would play a crucial role in our health and general lifespan.
It is only logical that people start to think that way, it doesn't really put that much stress on the fact that we are dealing with a problem personally when we start looking at others. Imagine this, if your house is on fire, and also the next door building is on fire, would you go put out the fire they have first, or would you put out the fire you have at your house first?
Everyone on the world would try to put out their own fire first, and this is exactly the same, we are all having financial trouble, BILLIONS in the world living in either poverty, or under average levels, only a few people live without worry of money, and only a few million are rich, in a world of 8 billion people having 5 billion poor or near poor, with 2+ billion living on average, and only a few million rich, you can't expect people to help each other out.