It’s better than you think - Away from the shocking headlines, progress is improving human life

The Washington Times ^ | Monday, July 11, 2016 | Richard W. Rahn

[expat_panama]

It is the worst of times — well no, not really. This past week we had shootings of police and shootings by police. The world economy and political situation is a mess. It is a time of crisis — without an apparent Churchill, Thatcher or Reagan. Yet, in many ways, things have never been better.

In 1930, 304 American police officers were killed in the line of duty; last year it was 122. In 1930, the U.S. population was a little over one third of what it is today, so, on a population adjusted basis, there were about seven times as many policemen being killed per year 85 years ago compared to recent years...

...in the shootings of police in Dallas, and that is that the killer was taken out by a robot... ...robots will take over the function of obtaining the driver’s license, car registration, and looking into the pulled-over car while the police officer does the questioning from the safety...

...homicide rates in the United States have been falling for decades and currently are about half what they were 50 years ago...

...advances in food science have enabled mankind to grow far more and better food in far less space...

...those who say the end of the world is close — often religious figures, fortune tellers and wayward scientists. As an economist, I predict that the continuous debt buildup... ...not be the end of the world.

And finally, one item of very good news is that the climate alarmists have been wrong. Their predictions of big rises in sea levels, the end of Arctic sea ice, and the end of polar bears, which were also supposed to have occurred by now, didn’t happen...

[expat_panama]

related thread: Robots Won't Replace Humans, They'll Simply Transform Their Work

[wastedyears]

More guns, less crime.

[Robert DeLong]

Richard W. Rahn (born January 9, 1942 in Rochester, New York) is an American economist who frequently writes for The Washington Times. He was the Vice President and Chief Economist of the United States Chamber of Commerce during the Reagan Administration and remains a staunch advocate of supply-side economics, small government, and classical liberalism. A senior fellow of the Cato Institute and the Discovery Institute, Rahn received his M.B.A. from Florida State University, his Ph.D. from Columbia University, and an honorary Doctor of Laws from Pepperdine University.

In addition to his column in The Washington Times, his articles have appeared in many newspapers and magazines, including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The American Spectator, National Review, and various international publications. From 2002 to 2008, he served on the Board of Directors of the Cayman Islands Monetary Authority.

Rahn is currently chairman of the Institute for Global Economic Growth, an organization that assists nations in implementing supply-side or "pro-growth" reforms. According to his profile on the IGEG website he is a member of the Mont Pelerin Society, sits on the boards of numerous think-tanks and advocacy groups, and has testified on economic issues before the U.S. Congress over seventy-five times. Rahn is also an Adjunct Professor at the Institute of World Politics.

Sounds like a globalist to me.

[expat_panama]

Good morning and happy all time high for the S&P500!  Yeah I know, in weaker volume so it can't last.  Or maybe it can...

Right now futures traders see stock indexes continuing at +0.72% and metals still higher +0.87%.  The only major report is Wholesale Inventories at a half-hour after opening bell.

Op-ed's galore:

Slogging On Economic Road Back to Normal - Barry Ritholtz, Bloomberg
Government Stimulation Is the Source of Stagnation - John Tamny, RCM
Why Is Economic Growth Sluggish? - Glenn Hubbard & Tim Kane, Investor's
Stock Market at Highs: What's Different This Time? - Matt Krantz, USAT
Can We Ignore Bond Market's Alarm Bells? - Neil Irwin, New York Times
Red Flag: Investors Are Trading Bonds Like Stocks - Ellie Ismailidou, MW
The Market Is Sending Positive Political Message - Ira Stoll, New York Sun
Will Washington Cut Its Own CO2 Consumption? - Glenn Reynolds, USAT
There Is No Good Time For Carbon Tax - H. Sterling Burnett, Am. Spectator
The Chinese Love the Trump Brand Too - Brendon Hong, The Daily Beast
Lower Oil Prices Call For More Diversification - Rex Sinquefield, Forbes
Why Millennials Don't Deposit In IRAs - Rodney Brooks, Washington Post
Falling Market for Trophy Homes in Sky - Michelle Higgins,New York Times

[expat_panama]

More guns, less crime.

Guns don't kill people, people robots kill people.

[ROCKLOBSTER]

Given these stats, you could also make the case (to the average libtard)

More guns = no global warming.

[Moonman62]

If he’s teaching supply side economics to foreign countries he’s not what we typically think of as a globalist today.

[Moonman62]

He makes some good points. And police officers are still much more likely to be killed by traffic accidents than a criminal.

[expat_panama]

Sounds like a globalist

What, you can't disagree w/ anything in particular that he says, but it's that you just don't like him?

[rightwingintelligentsia]

In 1930, 304 American police officers were killed in the line of duty

Interesting article, but I don't know if 1930 is the best year to compare police shootings with today. Prohibition-era America was unusually violent, due to the rise in organized crime during the 20s.

[expat_panama]

more likely to be killed by traffic accidents than a criminal.

Huh, useful factiod.  [confirming...]

[palmer]

So far this year: Line of Duty Deaths: 61

9/11 related illness: 1
Aircraft accident: 1
Animal related: 1
Automobile accident: 9
Gunfire: 28
Gunfire (Accidental): 1
Heart attack: 4
Motorcycle accident: 3
Struck by vehicle: 2
Vehicle pursuit: 2
Vehicular assault: 9

https://www.odmp.org/search/year/2016

[The_Republic_Of_Maine]

this is by far one of the most idiotic article I have ever read in the Times.

Folks the word is about to explode, it has never been closer to WW3 and we have Donald John Trump who is ten times the man Churchill ever dreamed of being.

The writer is a buffoon and the editor that approved this article is an idiot.

[Moonman62]

Thanks. According to that it looks like they are about equal for recent years.

However it does look like gunfire has been creeping up on traffic related deaths during the Obama years.

[Lurkina.n.Learnin]

“In 1930, 304 American police officers were killed in the line of duty; last year it was 122.”

In the thirties you had Capone, Dillinger and Ma Barker being pursued by the Justice Department. Today Ma Barker’s equivalent is exonerated by Justice and running for president.

[exit82]

In the thirties you had Capone, Dillinger and Ma Barker being pursued by the Justice Department. Today Ma Barker’s equivalent is exonerated by Justice and running for president.

A very profound statement--thanks.

[nascarnation]

[Robert DeLong]

I can find lots to disagree with him about. I identified what he was because like all globalist, their world is perhaps much better, while the majority of humans lives get much worse.

While they have much greater access, many more people are losing accesses that they once enjoyed.

So it is all relative. From his vantage point it is better, because he has the capability to enjoy the advances that he touts,

To others, the picture is not as rosy as they slide down the slope toward greater insecurity. Those who have seen their income stagnate, while prices for essentials rise. In addition their freedoms are being attacked left and right, and their right to even vocalize their concerns are being threatened with retribution. Their rights to freely live up to their believes concerning religion are being denied, and are again being threatened by laws criminalizing them, or placing financial burdens upon then for their beliefs.

So, while all of his statements may be true facts, his overall argument is false, because he does not weigh his positive factual evidence against factual negative evidence. By focusing solely on one side of the coin his conclusion is at best incomplete, because there are always two sides to every coin.

It's a kin to touting the miracles of antibiotics, while ignoring sauperbug strains that are becoming impervious to those antibiotics.

[Rinnwald]

Folks the word is about to explode, it has never been closer to WW3 and we have Donald John Trump who is ten times the man Churchill ever dreamed of being.

See, there was this thing called the "Cuban Missile Crisis". And for a while, Great Britain, kept on course by Winston Churchill, stood alone against Hitler's Germany. So, don't drink all the Kool-Aid just yet.

[GailA]

Don’t know where he got his stats, this is supposed to be the latest, though they don’t include 2016 yet.

Probation got a lot of people killed. Can’t fight a criminal toting a Tommy Gun when all you have is a Revolver, and not the best or highest caliber either.

A total of 1,439 law enforcement officers died in the line of duty during the past 10 years, an average of one death every 61 hours or 144 per year. There were 123 law enforcement officers killed in the line of duty in 2015.
National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund: Law Enforcement ...
www.nleomf.org/facts/enforcement/