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Page added on June 30, 2019

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Things aren’t so bad

General Ideas

In last week’s column I raised an issue that had hit home a bit personally — the increasing number of mass murders committed in our country’s public places by madmen who, armed with high-powered rifles and abundant ammunition, kill as many as they can.

It had become a bit more personal because our company underwent “active shooter” training, with instructors informing us of our choices to “run, hide or fight” if a killer arrives at our New London offices.

Not a happy thought.

So, this week, I offer something completely different. Things are not that bad. I’m talking big picture; globally. While you may be watching disasters, famines and health crises on your TV screens and smartphones — because such is news — the reality is the world is a much better place than it was not long ago.

I was reminded of this recently when reading an article in the latest edition of Reason by Ronald Bailey, the magazine’s science correspondent. His point was that despite the perceptions of many, these are not the glory days for the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse — Death, Famine, Pestilence and War.

Human nature being what it is, folks tend to think things have never been this bad when, in many ways, they have never been this good.

Take war, the world has not had a big one in 75 years, since the end of World War II. Local wars have killed thousands and displaced millions, each death a tragedy, but global institutions such as the United Nations and NATO have held, preventing war from again spilling across the planet. Europe has been at peace for the longest stretch in its history.

Thanks to science, medicine and improved food production and distribution, people are living much longer. Bailey notes that demographers estimate that in 16th-century England, 60 percent of children died before age 16. By 1820 things had not improved all that much, with average life expectancy hovering around 30.

Today in the United States the infant mortality rate is 5.9 per 1,000 births, while in the United Kingdom it is 3.8 (tell me again why national health care would be so awful?).

Average life expectancy for Americans is 78.7 years, which is impressive by historic numbers but has actually dropped slightly the past couple of years and trails many other developed nations. Analysis continues, but increased substance abuse and resulting premature deaths appear the likely cause.

Worldwide, the average life expectancy is 71.5 years (68 years for males and nearly 73 females), according to the United Nations.

A big factor in people living longer is the eradication of diseases such as smallpox, which decimated populations in the past, and great strides in controlling other sicknesses. Cancer may seem like the modern plague, but one big reason we see more of it is because people live longer to develop it. Medicine is dramatically improving the ability to successfully treat it.

According to the World Health Organization, at least 10 million deaths were prevented worldwide in the first five years of this decade because of the availability of vaccines and another 1.5 million deaths could be avoided if vaccines were more readily available in poorer nations. Remember those numbers the next time some irrational anti-vaccine advocate tries to paint vaccines as bad.

Could things go south in a hurry? You bet. The world is filled with nuclear weapons. A decline in liberal democracies could invite renewed conflict. Climate change, declining natural resources and an exploding global population will present difficult challenges.

Things could be better. But for perspective’s sake, it is sometimes worthwhile to recall that things have been far worse.

The Day



140 Comments on "Things aren’t so bad"

  1. Cloggie on Sun, 30th Jun 2019 8:33 am 

    Things aren’t that bad indeed:

    https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2019-03-19/obesity-is-now-africa-s-health-care-crisis-too

    …if we ignore for a moment the existence of the likes of John Bolton.

  2. joe on Sun, 30th Jun 2019 8:44 am 

    I agree with everything except the statement about liberal democracies. The UN/Nato etc was built largely when the countries of the world were monarchies, post colonial dictatorships or little better than anarcies. Peace is a function of an inability to enact violence on an enemy. When you cannot fight either because it costs to much (Nato v Warsaw Pact) or it will damage your own economy/society (EUSSR model) the peace is the consequence. Where liberal democracies could enact violence, indeed they have. Fewer liberal democracies could be a boon to global peace as it would allow more deal making not less. Liberal democracies tend to enforce protectionism and force their way into other markets due to stability at home. Liberal democracies tend to attack centralised power countries because it’s easier to topple a king rather than push around a broad based structure. Of course we use the term ‘democracies’ loosely, what we really mean is republics and liberal in the sense of economics rather than pot smokers and lgbtquspapjejdnstrans people

  3. Sissyfuss on Sun, 30th Jun 2019 10:16 am 

    It was the best of times and the worst of times and the worst is winning.

  4. Dredd on Sun, 30th Jun 2019 10:50 am 

    “Climate change, declining natural resources and an exploding global population will present difficult challenges.”

    Will?

    You missed all that when it kicked in years ago (The Warming Science Commentariat – 12)?

  5. Robert Inget on Sun, 30th Jun 2019 11:58 am 

    I’ll vote for smart phones as being one invention that has changed EVERYTHING. From health care to politics the ubiquitous instrument is now considered a necessity.

    From a cry for help to organizing a demo,
    (maybe that’s the same).
    For the last three weeks Sudan’s army cut all internet and phone service to try to keep folks from organizing.
    (They’er back in the streets today)

    One wonders, did the French, Americans, Russians manage to pull off world shaking revolutions W/O Apple?

  6. JuanP on Sun, 30th Jun 2019 12:46 pm 

    Robert, that is just stupid. smart phone are just good for porn hub stuff. I like gay cream pies myself.

  7. More Davy Identity Theft, Projections and Child Like Behavior on Sun, 30th Jun 2019 12:49 pm 

    JuanP on Sun, 30th Jun 2019 12:46 pm

    “I like gay cream pies myself.”

  8. JuanP is a liar on Sun, 30th Jun 2019 12:49 pm 

    More Davy Identity Theft, Projections and Child Like Behavior on Sun, 30th Jun 2019 12:49 pm

    JuanP on Sun, 30th Jun 2019 12:46 pm

    “I like gay cream pies myself.”

  9. Anonymouse on Sun, 30th Jun 2019 12:51 pm 

    Juan, you are always talking about ebony cock it is no wonder you like cream pies. I like golden showers.

  10. More Davy Sock Puppetry and Child Like Behavior on Sun, 30th Jun 2019 12:52 pm 

    JuanP is a liar on Sun, 30th Jun 2019 12:49 pm

  11. More Davy Identity Theft and Child Like Behavior on Sun, 30th Jun 2019 12:54 pm 

    Anonymouse on Sun, 30th Jun 2019 12:51 pm

    “Juan, you are always talking about ebony cock it is no wonder you like cream pies. I like golden showers.”

  12. Boney Joe on Sun, 30th Jun 2019 12:55 pm 

    I am the only one here who can calm Juan down and that is by stroking his head softly

  13. More Davy Identity Theft and Child Like Behavior on Sun, 30th Jun 2019 12:59 pm 

    Boney Joe on Sun, 30th Jun 2019 12:55 pm

    “I am the only one here who can calm Juan down and that is by stroking his head softly”

  14. complete juanpee nonsense on Sun, 30th Jun 2019 1:04 pm 

    More Davy Identity Theft and Child Like Behavior said Boney Joe on Sun, 30th Jun 2019 12:55 pm “I am th…
    More Davy Identity Theft and Child Like Behavior said Cloggie on Sun, 30th Jun 2019 12:53 pm Gaia on Sun…
    More Davy Sock Puppetry and Child Like Behavior said Mrs JuanP on Sun, 30th Jun 2019 12:52 pm “My hubb…
    More Davy Identity Theft and Child Like Behavior said Anonymouse on Sun, 30th Jun 2019 12:51 pm “Juan, y…
    More Davy Sock Puppetry and Child Like Behavior said JuanP is a liar on Sun, 30th Jun 2019 12:49 pm
    More Davy Sock Puppetry and Child Like Behavior said Juan’s madre knows him best on Sun, 30th Jun…
    More Davy Identity Theft, Projections and Child Like Behavior said JuanP on Sun, 30th Jun 2019 12:46 pm “I like gay…
    Davy Sock and Child Like Behavior said JuanP’s mom says he is a moron on Sun, 30th…
    More Davy Sock Puppetry and Projections said JuanP immaturity on Sun, 30th Jun 2019 12:43 pm

  15. Mich on Sun, 30th Jun 2019 1:05 pm 

    JuanP is disgusting, please ban him

  16. Truth has a liberal bias on Sun, 30th Jun 2019 1:07 pm 

    Juan, you would not last a day on a moderated site. I agree mich, disgusting

  17. More Davy Sock Puppetry on Sun, 30th Jun 2019 1:14 pm 

    complete juanpee nonsense on Sun, 30th Jun 2019 1:04 pm

  18. More Davy Identity Theft on Sun, 30th Jun 2019 1:15 pm 

    Mich on Sun, 30th Jun 2019 1:05 pm

    Truth has a liberal bias on Sun, 30th Jun 2019 1:07 pm

  19. Cloggie on Sun, 30th Jun 2019 3:23 pm 

    Davy is disgusting, please ban him

  20. JuanP ID theft on Sun, 30th Jun 2019 3:32 pm 

    Cloggie on Sun, 30th Jun 2019 3:23 pm

    Davy is disgusting, please ban him

  21. Cloggie on Sun, 30th Jun 2019 3:37 pm 

    I was only joking about banning Davy. He is mein online love muffin and I cannot live without him

    XoXoXoX

  22. D. Cloud on Sun, 30th Jun 2019 4:29 pm 

    Your swipe guns, “In last week’s column I raised an issue that had hit home a bit personally — the increasing number of mass murders committed in our country’s public places by madmen who, armed with high-powered rifles and abundant ammunition, kill as many as they can.” Is a push for gun confiscation. Before you go down that road, you need to understand the consequences of that agenda.

    Based on prior efforts, it appears that a gun ban will get about a four percent compliance rate. That leaves about 396 million guns in the hands of armed citizens. A third of the country believes that the right to remain armed is a natural right that cannot be taken away by law, edict or decree. Many Christians have come to believe that to remain armed and vigilant is the will of God. Luke 22:36. Once you criminalize gun ownership, the current restraints on machine guns, suppressors and destructive devices will have no impact. Any machine shop can turn out submachine guns. It is estimated that four trillion rounds of ammunition are in private hands. Ammunition has a shelf life of more than half a century.

    Most of the awakened gun owning public see the shift towards communism in our federal government. They have taken the warnings of Solzhenitsyn to heart. They are not going to burn in the camps. Instead when you come for them they will kill your agents. Then they will come for you. The Marxists are centered in our major population centers. Those centers are not white. They are dominated by Hispanics, Blacks, Asians and Muslims. Elements of these groups are openly calling for a white genocide.

    These city centers are incredibly vulnerable to asymmetrical attacks. Tim McVeigh killed 168 people, wounded 680 more and destroyed or damaged 324 buildings in a 16 block radius with a cement mixer. Chrisopher Dorner, a lone gunman began an attack on L.A. Police tying the police department in knots for weeks, triggering them to shoot up innocent civilians before he was finally killed. Basil Eleby, a crack head took down a bridge in Atlanta disrupting the traffic of 250,000 commuters with a package of matches. An attack on a substation in San Jose by rifle fire destroyed transformers and caused $15 million in damage. It is estimated that taking down as few as nine substations will bring down the grid for months. If the lights go out the center cannot hold.

    These were for the most part lone actors. Imagine what coordinated efforts conducted by trained men and women would do.

    According to the Washington Post, around 4% of the population is ardently alt right. That is a force of roughly 12 million. Trigger this element and we will lose 90% of our population in one year. Gun abolition is a wet dream. Try to force that dream and you will trigger a civil war. This is not something that any rational person would want.

    Back off the gun abolition agenda. An armed citizenry is the only thing that protects the minority from a dictatorship of the majority. In 2018 we lost 36,750 people in traffic accidents. Perspective is every thing.

  23. makati1 on Sun, 30th Jun 2019 5:41 pm 

    “The Day” is a delusional unicorn rainbow snowflake, or so it seems.

    Try telling the 40 million plus people, the US has killed SINCE WW2, that things are better.

    Try telling the people in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Libya, Iran, North Korea that things are better. Or even Europe.

    Try telling the millions of homeless Americans, many with families, that things are better.

    Try telling those on retirement that are losing their income because of zero interest on their “savings” and unreported inflation of 10% or more.

    Try telling that to the farmers in the Mid-west that are seeing their family farms repossessed, washed away, drowned. All most are planting today is debt.

    Try telling that to the many countries not mentioned above, (at least 60) currently under attack from the dying American Empire or its minions*.

    Yes, the world would be a better place…WITHOUT THE US…! Soon, I hope.

    *Minion: underling, henchman, servant, hireling, vassal, stooge, toady, etc.

  24. makati1 on Sun, 30th Jun 2019 5:59 pm 

    About 50% are intelligent comments above, mine included. The rest are a waste of space, but I guess the klik$ are counted, not the value of the posts. It’s ALL about $$$$$.

    All you need to do is look at the immature and delusional losers ruining this site to understand why America is going down the shitter.

    Keep flushing …er…tweeting Trump! GO TRUMP! TRUMP IN 2020! LMAO

  25. Davy on Sun, 30th Jun 2019 6:10 pm 

    “About 50% are intelligent comments above, mine included. The rest are a waste of space”

    STFU stupid, you encourage the fool juanpee and enable his bad behavior THEN you whine like an crusty old man. BULLSHIT

  26. Davy on Sun, 30th Jun 2019 6:11 pm 

    “Keep flushing …er…tweeting Trump! GO TRUMP! TRUMP IN 2020! LMAO”

    makato, that’s real intelligent. What a dork.

  27. makati1 on Sun, 30th Jun 2019 6:30 pm 

    Actually Davy, it is an accurate view of America and its leadership today. Delusional denial does not change it. Nor does immature put-downs as above.

    I encourage anyone to put you down constantly, Davy. You started it a long long time ago and are now getting the blow-back, just as America is in need of being put down. GO TRUMP!

  28. makati1 on Sun, 30th Jun 2019 6:33 pm 

    “US Has Killed More Than 20 Million People in 37 “Victim Nations” Since World War II”

    https://www.globalresearch.ca/us-has-killed-more-than-20-million-people-in-37-victim-nations-since-world-war-ii/5492051

    Actually, that is likely a low number, but…

  29. Davy on Sun, 30th Jun 2019 6:34 pm 

    Actually makato, it is an immature view of America and its leadership today. You are not capable of objective and balanced discussions. For you it is all about agenda and drama. Learn how to be an adult which is strange because you are almost in assisted care..

  30. Davy on Sun, 30th Jun 2019 6:39 pm 

    “US Has Killed More Than 20 Million People in 37 “Victim Nations” Since World War II”

    You do realize you are responsible for those deaths too, makato…right or are you in delusional denial?

  31. Davy on Sun, 30th Jun 2019 6:40 pm 

    where is the lunatic when you need him right, makato? He is probably drinking and drugging now and forgot about us.

  32. makati1 on Sun, 30th Jun 2019 7:12 pm 

    Davy, who, on here believes any of the shit you post? Answer: No one! So, who gives a shit what you think or post? Certainly not me.

    I give a fairly accurate picture of your failing police state America. You don’t like it but you cannot refute it with any REAL proof. The headlines every day say different. The rest of the world, other then the US ass kissing countries like France and Canada, would all agree with me. The sooner the US bully is put down, the better for all. Today would be fine with me. GO TRUMP!

    So, this sunny Monday AM, I am enjoying my retirement, building my preps, and thinking about how I will spend my SS on things of real value, not numbers in a bank. Keep paying those taxes, slave, if you actually have any income. I doubt it. LOL

  33. Cloggie on Sun, 30th Jun 2019 7:13 pm 

    I am right here, I never left, and I have certainty not forgotten. Not possible Davy, you occupy my thoughts and dreams, every minute of the day.

    You are my drug Davymeister, and I am completely, totally addicted to you.

    Cloggie

  34. onlooker on Sun, 30th Jun 2019 7:58 pm 

    Makati is spit on. The US has made a mess of the world and not coincidentally of living conditions within the US. We have rapidly descended to 3rd world status in many categories

  35. onlooker on Sun, 30th Jun 2019 8:01 pm 

    spot

  36. makati1 on Sun, 30th Jun 2019 8:47 pm 

    Onlooker, Nice to see someone else on here with an open mind and ability to see reality.

    I have family and friends in the US and am concerned for their future. They have an open end invitation to come here to the Philippines and live with me. The choice is theirs. I suspect that they will wait until it is too late and they cannot leave. We shall see.

    I am the first person in my family to live outside the US in many generations. It takes a sense of adventure to do so. I have lived here for over 11 years now and have not regretted a second of it, except for the long travel time to go back to the US for visits. Those are about to end. It is a chore for me as I cannot sleep when traveling and it means a 30+ hour day. Getting too old for that (75). ^_^

    Have a great day!

  37. JuanP on Sun, 30th Jun 2019 8:54 pm 

    None of the comments above were written by me, as usual.
    “A decline in liberal democracies could invite renewed conflict.” ROFLMFAO!
    I skipped the article after reading the stupid title, but as I was scrolling down that sentence caught my eye and made me laugh. What a stupid, ignorant idea!

  38. The Church Lady on Sun, 30th Jun 2019 9:03 pm 

    DAVY the SKUM is of HIS father the GRAND MASTER of HELL, and the desires of HIS father HE covets. DAVY was a MURDERER from the beginning, and does not stand in the TRUTH, because there is no TRUTH in him. When DAVY speaks a LIE, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a LIAR and the father of it.” John 8:44

    For deeply scared into DAVY’S scalp is inscribed HIS true identity, BEELZEBUB the BEAST, FATHER of LIES and WHORES.

  39. JuanP on Sun, 30th Jun 2019 9:29 pm 

    Delusional Davy “You are not capable of objective and balanced discussions.”
    You are projecting again, Exceptionalist! LOL!

  40. makati1 on Sun, 30th Jun 2019 9:38 pm 

    Welcome to the United States of China. –RF

    https://gizmodo.com/the-surveillance-scores-companies-use-to-rip-you-off-mi-1835812385

    “The fact that American corporations are mimicking the actions of an authoritarian government to score and treat consumers differently is disturbing,”

    And this is only what you know about. China Bad! US Good! LMAO

  41. makati1 on Sun, 30th Jun 2019 9:42 pm 

    JuanP, Davy doesn’t have a mirror to look into and see himself for what he really is. He broke the last one with his moonshine jug when it showed him what a hypocrite he really is. He is the poster boy for “The Ugly American”.

  42. anon on Mon, 1st Jul 2019 2:28 am 

    yes, said from inside the bubble, of course things arent that bad. but that bubble of ‘not that bad’ has been bought at an extremely high price!!! what’s more, the people enjoying the ‘not that bad’ are not the ones who will pay that price! no, the next generations, some of us already alive, and certainly many generations yet to come, will be paying the price for those greedy $$$$’s hundred years of ‘not bad’. We (and our descendants) will curse their names as we pick through the rusting poisoned ruins of their civilization trying to scavenge a living. so go on and enjoy your last few years of ‘not so bad’. it’s on us.

  43. makati1 on Mon, 1st Jul 2019 2:54 am 

    I like your sarcasm, anon. Right on! I grew up in a lower middle class family. We had enough but not excess. It’s obvious that those who write such trash are in the upper classes looking down their noses at the rest of us. Easy to claim “all is well” as you look around your gated community.

    I moved to the Philippines to get away from the constant consumer propaganda and to lower my life style where it is not looked down upon if you don’t own two cars, a big house with a two car garage full of “stuff”. Here you can live on any level you chose and the government does not regulate you to death. Real freedom.

  44. makati1 on Mon, 1st Jul 2019 3:03 am 

    Explaining that last sentence: Our 73 year old neighbor lives in a Nipa Hut made of bamboo and palm leaves. We live in a rental that could be built in the US for <$50K. Our other neighbor lives in a two story that would look right at home in any American development and would cost at least $150K to build there. Plus, there are two new cars in the driveway. The house next to that one is also like the Nipa Hut only a bit nicer. All in the city limits.

    Where in the US would the building codes allow that even if the neighbors would? Nowhere I am familiar with. Real Freedom.

  45. Brent Georgeson on Mon, 1st Jul 2019 3:30 am 

    https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/30/business/energy-environment/oil-companies-profit.html

    Yeah things are perfectly fine.

  46. Davy on Mon, 1st Jul 2019 5:15 am 

    “Facebook Is Daily News Source for 21% of Adults in Philippines”
    https://tinyurl.com/yyoafo87 bloomberg

  47. Davy on Mon, 1st Jul 2019 5:49 am 

    You know, facebook may be news for 21% of adults in the Philippines like I said above, but did I mention that on my estates here in the US and in EUROPE, 100% of man-babys get their news and from the best fake news source on the internet.

    And no, I am not talking about The Daily Mail, sorry Cloggo. I am talking of course, about, ZEROHEDGE. If you need to sound like you are talking out of your arse and dont know where to get fair to barely adequate material, I cannot recommend ZEROHEDGE enough.

  48. Agnostic on Mon, 1st Jul 2019 8:43 am 

    Davy is disgusting. Ignore him.

  49. Davy on Mon, 1st Jul 2019 9:51 am 

    I did not write the above

  50. Robert Inget on Mon, 1st Jul 2019 10:13 am 

    ‘Iran just breached a limit on its nuclear fuel stockpile which it was meant to observe for another 11 years under Obama-era nuclear deal’

    IOW’s Israel may… may… chance a strike at Iran’s nuclear nerve centers.
    Before the now dead nuclear agreement this was ALWAYS a possibility.
    Now that Iran has solidified support from Russia, China, EU and Iraq, an Israeli air attack becomes less likely. (my opinion)

    China seems to believe buying Iranian oil serves two (or more) needs.
    1) China buys crude at discounts with currencies
    OTHER than the yuan.
    2) Keeping Iran’s economy from imploding.
    (a) The exact reverse of current US policy.
    (b) China opens new markets for its products,
    US closes off markets for its services, products
    and $USD dominance.

    Keep in mind two vital facts.
    1) China imports four million B’s+ than US daily.
    2) Once $USD loses world exchange currency
    dominance China wins, US economy falters or rather defaults on trillions in foreign and domestic
    debt.

    I’ve alway maintained this could never happen.
    I also thought H.Clinton would become President and we would have boring BAU.

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