If You Think You're Rich Today, Just Wait Until Tomorrow: Instapundit on Progress

Forget Pope Francis and other naysayers. The world is getting richer, safer, and freer.

Glenn Reynolds of Instapundit has a sharp piece up at USA Today about improvements in living standards and material resources that always get ignored in political discussions. Sure, there's a lot of bad ju-ju out there, but would you really want to turn back time?

When I was a kid, I walked home past fallout shelters stocked against nuclear armageddon. Nowadays, we worry about terrorists getting a nuke or two or hacking our power grid, but bad as that stuff is, it's a far cry from the Strangelovian nightmare we faced a few decades ago.

And despite economic stagnation, in many ways, today's Americans are richer than the original super-rich tycoon, John D. Rockefeller. Noting the absence of antibiotics, reliable birth control, air conditioning, on-demand music, television, contact lenses, dental care, jet travel, etc., economist Don Boudreaux comments: "Honestly, I wouldn't be remotely tempted to quit the 2016 me so that I could be a one-billion-dollar-richer me in 1916. This fact means that, by

Cato

1916 standards, I am today more than a billionaire. It means, at least given my preferences, I am today materially richer than was John D. Rockefeller in 1916. And if, as I think is true, my preferences here are not unusual, then nearly every middle-class American today is richer than was America's richest man a mere 100 years ago."

Read the whole thing. Reynolds does a good job of looking at the international context especially. The really big story of the 21st century is how quickly global poverty and misery in declining.

Well, the pessimist in me insists that I'm so fucking poor compared to what I'd be in 2116 I can barely stand it all! 

The prompt for Reynold's column is the great website HumanProgress.org, which is run by Marian Tupy of the Cato Institute. Reason.com runs weekly articles, archived here, by Tupy and his crew. Among recent topics: "Political Freedom On the Rise Around the World Despite Naysayers" and "Living Standards Up Since The Fall of Communism."

Last year, Reason interviewed Human Progress's Marian Tupy, during which he took issue with Pope Francis's fundamentally mistaken view of poverty declines and the role of global capitalism.

Comments

[UnCivilServant]

OT, does anyone have the download link for the newest version of fascr, it still fails to turn up in google searches.

[Caput Lupinum]

Here you go.

[UnCivilServant]

Thank you.

[Notorious UGCC]

[Citizen X]

Hey Eddie, you accidentally your comment.

[Notorious UGCC]

I know

[Suthenboy]

Human history is one long saga of rape, murder, plunder and cannibalism; of people competing against each other and exploiting each other for scarce resources. The savagery and misery has only ever been mitigated by increases in resources, by the creation of wealth. Those increases came at a steep price. Oceans of sweat and tears and blood paid for them.

Now we have exponentially more wealth and security than at any time in the past paid for and handed to us by our ancestors.

Bernie Sanders thinks bread lines are great and both he and Hillary want to end the supply of cheap energy. Both of those evil fucks should be gibbeted.

[Adans smith]

I prefer burning at the stake.Some cold beer ,popcorn,good time.

[commodious spittoon]

Human history is one long saga of rape, murder, plunder and cannibalism; of people competing against each other and exploiting each other for scarce resources.

Some people, like jackass down below, yearn for a return to form. They have a bizarre fixation with desperate, brutal subsistence.

[Hyperbolical]

But poor people and children were exploited to obtain this posterity for the few. Why do you hate poor people and children, Suthenboy?

/sarc

[Domestic Dissident]

"Yeah, but that guy has a bigger pony than I do. I want his pony!"

[Tornado16nb]

I used to think Bern was just really stupid and didn't realize where his free stuff comes from. But after reading his lack of job til 40 and his comments in the 80s with respect to cuba, USSR, deodorant, etc....i think he sees himself as some great central planner who if elected is doing everyone else favors and we should praise him for the generosity. I think he is the hard variety of socialist deep down and would love to control the means of production

[Tornado16nb]

He is bitter he was so pathetic not being able to get a job...and he projects it onto others.

[Hyperbolical]

He is bitter he was so pathetic not being able to get a job...and he projects it onto others.

This is key. Sanders IS bitter. He should have been more successful but them people stood in his way. His concern is not for poor people, but for fellow travelers who've missed out on the life they should have had because the Bourgeoisie stood in their way.

[Tornado16nb]

And the guy apparently has 65K in credit card debt with a salary of 174K. The worst part is he is one of those who don't realize he is the problem himself

[Lurker Kurt]

I'm sure he was able to get a job. He just didn't want to work for someone else and thereby "make them rich" off of his work.

He deliberately chose not to work.

[Tornado16nb]

Well yea...i think he wasn't able to get a job because it didn't meet his own fantasies of what that should be. The entitlement is what did him in...and he is greedy, jealous and bitter for it.

[Rich]

Well, OK -- technology (communication, computing, medicine, etc.) marches on.

But the ability to, say, own multiple lavish estates still eludes most people.

*** feels the Bern *** 😉

[UnCivilServant]

I'm looking at a lavish estate of 0.25 acres of land with a 1000 sqft manor upon it.

[Rich]

Why does anyone *need* such opulence?

[UnCivilServant]

Get off my (Future) Lawn!

[Adans smith]

Did you build it?

[Irish Breaks Up W/ ESB]

I can't go to a private college and study a nonsense subject and expect to earn enough money to pay off my loans.

Similarly, I can't drop out of high school and make enough money to raise a family of 4 when I get repeatedly knocked up out of wedlock.

These facts are proof that capitalism has failed.

[Tornado16nb]

It is actually proof that capitalism does work...you make dumb decisions, you get bad outcomes which is natural reality. In socialism, they try to change human nature and create a false sphere

[Swiss Servator]

Report for sarcasm meter re-calibration plz.

[Tornado16nb]

I know it wasn't irish saying that. However i didn't take it as sarcasm but rather Irish highlighting the idiotic points people make to try and say capitalism has failed which really has nothing to do with capitalism (unless they assume capitalism must provide them everything which is really why they like socialism). I was merely offering a tangent.

[Curt]

Yeah... the modern Rockefellers of the world have a crapload more money than me. Until I've got a private jet and Bugatti, the world is entirely unfair. Gimme my free shit!

[generic Brand]

***WHOOOOSH***

That's the sound of this article and the facts it presents going over the heads of Americans who instead say, "But what about the lowest 5%???"

You mean the lowest 5% who still has a cell phone, television, or even a car?

[Hugh Akston]

They might mean the lowest 5% who live on the streets and have their homes seized and destroyed by the city.

[kbolino]

They might mean

But they probably don't. And even if they did, what are they suggesting be done, besides raise taxes and government spending?

[Certified Public Asshat]

The 5% of the 5%?

[commodious spittoon]

Half our country is below average in terms of income!

[Francisco d'Anconia]

Median. 😉

[UnCivilServant]

When we were talking averages in math, "Mean, Median and Mode" were the three forms of 'average'. Mode gets the least love.

Of course, with datasets like earnings (large number of possible values, large number of values with a fine graned level of distinction), mode gets really useless.

[robc]

Mode is probably $0.

[UnCivilServant]

You're right.

Good News Everyoboy - all jobs have above-average pay!

[Auric Demonocles]

Yeah, the constant correction to median is annoyingly pedantic, as "average" is still correct (although less specific).

[Suthenboy]

I have actually heard people say that earnestly.

[Zeb]

Jeez. Even an asshole like Garrison Kielor gets that that's a joke.

[Jackand Ace]

Always amusing to me how Reason tells the poor, "hey, you got nothing to worry about, the future is bright." But words to those with money? "Wake up! Disaster is right around the corner."

"Doug Casey, a wildly successful investor who's the head of the outfit Casey Research, is predicting doom and gloom for the global economy."

I guess those with little money aren't part of the world economy.

[Jackand Ace]

Link

http://reason.com/reasontv/201.....is-economy

[Adans smith]

Look jack off,I grew up in the 1960's and early 1970's.Almost most people are far better off than we were..1 car,no ac,limited choices at the store in the small town I grew up in. No cable,internet and on and on.Fucking socilaist

[Brett L]

Yes. Upon taking short positions, FUD are the default talking points. Rational behavior does not indicate any underlying truth.

[Brett L]

Yes. Upon taking short positions, FUD are the default talking points. Rational behavior does not indicate any underlying truth.

[Hyperbolical]

You really are gifted at missing the point, Jack.

The "poor" live better in many way than the super wealthy did just a short one hundred years ago. But that little fact would neuter your excoriation of free markets, private property and liberty.

[Jackand Ace]

Re read the headline.

If you think your rich today, wait until tomorrow. Then read the article about Casey.
If you think your rich today, wait until tomorrow. It will be gone.

Two conflicting messages, no? One for those with money, one for those without.

[Hyperbolical]

Did you even read the article?

If you think your rich today, wait until tomorrow.

The point is more like: "if you think you're rich today, just wait a couple of decades and see what "rich" is then." But you read it as a warning that things would get worse. Just RTFA and avoid similar confusion in the future--on your part.

[Jackand Ace]

No. The Casey article. Financial collapse is on the way.

[Hyperbolical]

I don't see a link.

[Jackand Ace]

It's there. Again

http://reason.com/reasontv/201.....is-economy

[Sevo]

Gee, look there! Reason features articles with different viewpoints and Jack gets his short in a twist!
Fucking ignoramus.

[Hyperbolical]

You're still cherry picking. Science and technology--as he points out toward the end--are still producing solutions. This is the point of the current discussion.

[brokencycle]

What the hell are you talking about? How do the poor stop being poor when income tax is 70%? When their purchases are taxed at 28%? When cars have a 180% sales tax?

The future is bright for the poor. We have almost eliminated extreme poverty worldwide. The poor have never had a higher standard of living, and in the United States, about 80% of people who were born into the lowest quintile of income, will move out of it in adulthood.

[brokencycle]

What the hell are you talking about? How do the poor stop being poor when income tax is 70%? When their purchases are taxed at 28%? When cars have a 180% sales tax?

The future is bright for the poor. We have almost eliminated extreme poverty worldwide. The poor have never had a higher standard of living, and in the United States, about 80% of people who were born into the lowest quintile of income, will move out of it in adulthood.

[Hugh Akston]

You do realize that there's a distinction between a publication interviewing someone with a certain point of view and the publication itself advocating that point of view, right? Or even that different writers for a publication are distinct individuals and may hold views that differ from a publications official editorial position?

[Jackand Ace]

This publication runs entry of those articles. Check out numerous piece son Peter Schif. He has the same message.

[Hugh Akston]

And it also runs plenty of articles that cover how technology and evolving social mores are improving peoples' lives. Just comb through Bailey or Shackford's archives.

[Jackand Ace]

I read them. Bailey always excoriates the doom and gloomers. And yet Reason itself panders to the doom THEY think is coming. What, they get to pick which doom is the real one?

[kbolino]

And yet Reason itself panders to the doom THEY think is coming.

No, they don't.

The commenters often do, but the magazine does not. The articles are generally very optimistic, except perhaps where cops are concerned, and lately where Trump is concerned, but the editorial position for a while now has been focused on the ongoing/eminent "Libertarian Moment".

You are either willfully ignorant or you think freedom = doom but either way that's your own biases talking, and nothing more.

[Zeb]

You still seem to be missing the fact that Reason is a collection of individuals with their own points of view.

[B. Woodrow Chippenhaus]

Someone less fortunate has been using Jack's brain for some time. That other person's state of fortune may not have improved since then though...

[GILMORE?]

Always amusing to me how Reason tells the poor, "hey, you got nothing to worry about, the future is bright." But words to those with money? "Wake up! Disaster is right around the corner."

You have the semblance of a decent point here but you fuck it up because you're a moron.

The point is not that "things are the best" in Nick's celebration of human prosperity, but that we don't face the same problems that we faced 50 or 100 years ago. Illness/sickness is far more treatable, technology provides knowledge-transparency in ways that empowers people to self-educate, etc. We have 1000 more opportunities to pursue self-actualization, etc. Things like that.

The fact that our macro-finances are completely fucked up in the developed world? Is absolutely true. I'm not one of these gold-bug conspiracy theorist libertoids, but i work in finance and Europe and Japan are both turning into death-spiral economies where they can no longer stimulate themselves out of a looming implosion.

The US economy is still quasi-robust but seems to have a large group (like you, presumably) who want to emulate Europe and turn itself into a self-dealing spending-junkie.

Holding both these views ('things are better', 'the global economy is weak') are not contradictions.

[Jackand Ace]

Ouch. But thanks for the "semblance of a decent point ". I'll take it.

[Domestic Dissident]

I'm in complete agreement with the idea that generally speaking, things overall are better today for more people than they have ever been.

If the assumption though is that this means that things will continue trending generally upwards indefinitely; that I'm not quite so sure about.

[Jackand Ace]

To be honest, you only echo the Pope's statement. If one reads his encyclical, which I have and CLEARLY Gillespie and Instapundit have not, he makes full notice of all the benefits that have come to human kind through progress, technology, and capitalism. He has words of caution, however, about recent developments, particularly for the poor.

Reason just wants words of caution for those with money.

[kbolino]

Except that the Pope is standing athwart those developments yelling "STOP!" and so are you.

[Sevo]

Jackand Ace|3.11.16 @ 11:45AM|#
"Reason just wants words of caution for those with money."

You are a lying piece of shit, aren't you?

[NotAnotherSkippy]

Venezuela has the world's largest proven oil reserves and they have bare shelves. The fantasy that technology and social liberty can protect you from a government led mob come to steal your stuff is at least a century away assuming they don't get to you before then. It's all about the managed decline. If I wanted to be french I'd live in France.

[Zeb]

Technology and social liberty do make it a lot less likely that a government led mob will come steal your stuff, though.

[NotAnotherSkippy]

Why?

[R C Dean]

Reason tells the poor, "hey, you got nothing to worry about, the future is bright." But words to those with money? "Wake up! Disaster is right around the corner."

Of course, its also possible that if you are poor, the future looks relatively good, but if you are well off, the future looks very risky.

"Here, have a 50 inch TV!" - big step up for the poor, not so much for the well off.

"We're raising taxes on the wealthy and gutting the capital markets" - means little to the poor, but is a big deal to the well off.

[DesigNate]

Jackass can't understand that.

[Tornado16nb]

What?

Are you ever going to provide your evidence how climate change is causing challenges for florida? What are those? You also mentioned solutions are being implemented...which are what?

[Francisco d'Anconia]

How do the poor of today compare to the poor of 50 or 100 years ago?

You, sir, are an idiot.

[Jackand Ace]

Am not.

[Francisco d'Anconia]

Are too.

[Jackand Ace]

Not.

[Sevo]

Jackand Ace|3.11.16 @ 11:52AM|#
"Not."
And a lying piece of shit besides

[Tornado16nb]

Jack how much money do you make? Would you like to share to be more equal?

[Swiss Servator]

Failed urban planners and substitute teachers don''t have lots of spreadin' around money.

[Brett L]

Great example: There were only 22 cases of guinea worm infection in the world last year. There used to be about 200000. Thats 199978 of the poorest people in the world who enjoyed a better standard of living than they could have before what cheap and effective communications allowed a simple, cheap eradication program of spraying a dispersant that keeps the larval host from being able to congregate and keeping infected people away from open water to break the lifecycle. Its probable that guinea worm infection may beat polio to be the second human infection to be completely eradicated.

[robc]

Plenty have been eradicated. Usually the ones that were so fatal they didnt have time to spread. Evolution is a bitch that way.

[Zeb]

Doesn't "eradicated" imply some agent doing the eradicating?

[Zeb]

Polio? Do you mean smallpox? Polio is still out there.

[GILMORE?]

The reason this message is politically useless is that its a terrible sales pitch.

No one opens their advertisement with, "you're far better off than you've ever been! quit bitching! You could have died of polio when you were 4!""

People always want to believe things are bad and getting worse.

All my friend with young kids (and my siblings) believe that the environment has degraded since they were children, and is getting worse so fast that their kids will be living in some Chinese-esqe industrial nightmare requiring daily-rebreather wear.

They also believe that crime is worse than when they were children, as well as 'more extreme'. (terrorists, pedo-stalker-rapists, mass shooter crazies, etc)

I have whipped out charts expecting to slay these delusions in a single blow, but they will shake their heads at me like *I* 'just dont' get it'.

They NEED fear because they feel that their fears make them healthy. If they're *not worrying*, they're bad people, and they're letting bad things creep into their lives. They need and love politicians who tell them that everyone is trying to kill them but that with great efforts we shall overcome.

Its fucking retarded, but that's reality. And Nick's message is completely useless at getting through to these people.

[Zeb]

Well, thanks. That was depressing.

I just don't get it, but it does seem to be the way people are.

[Inigo Montoya, Micro-Aggressor]

Richer and safer is a definite yes, but freer? I'm not so sure. Gone are the days when some federal snoop had to be bothered to shimmy up a pole to wiretap your phone or spend half the morning holding each envelope in your mail over a boiling pot of water. Now they just automatically download and store everything everyone communicates, don't they?

And the Rockefeller analogy was a bit off. While I certainly would not want to give up things like antibiotics if I get a serious bacterial infection, I'd say a billionaire 2016 was certainly better off than a middle class person today. Sailing to Europe in my own private yacht would definitely beat flying coach, and it would be awesome to have a live-in butler, housemaid, cook, and scullery wench.

[DEATFBIRSECIA]

Every time I feel bad that I'm behind the bills or can't afford to take more time off I tell myself this:

I'm sitting in a comfortable chair, moving across the earth at speeds unattainable 100 years ago, selecting from among several different audio streams, consisting of varied formats and content, all accessible through the push of a favorites button.

In my pocket I carry a supercomputer hooked up to literally all of the world's information, something which would awe Hari Seldon and the rest of the Foundation crew.

[DEATFBIRSECIA]

When I get to work, I'll grab some coffee, peruse a couple of news stories, and then get to "work," which consists of tasks approaching George Jetson-levels of simplicity and ease. Sometime around 10 a group of us will leisurely stroll down the street to the coffee shop where we will imbibe tasty coffee beverages, come back, and proceed to do more "work" until it's time to select from among the dozens of excellent restaurants in the immediate vicinity. At times when I'm "broke," instead of eating out, I will have prepared a very tasty lunch for myself out of fresh, healthy and delicious ingredients. This is called "batching it."

More work in the afternoon, then back into the speedy chariot with the music playing everywhere, while I barely pay attention to the controls, mainly focusing on scenery, alone with my thoughts.

[DEATFBIRSECIA]

Arriving home, I step out of the chariot, into my temperature-controlled, comfy home and with the flick of a switch, I'm surrounded by light, my bong, filled with at the moment the most delicious Blue Cookies and Trainwreck (yes I like the Indicas) waits for me, as does my adorable little weiner dog, Gus.

I toke up, roll around on the floor with Gus, prepare a delicious meal, consume some more news, entertainment, and then it's off to have a peaceful slumber in my comfortable bed. My sleep is aided by a remarkable machine which applies selective positive pressure in response to my breath so that I do not snore and can get restful sleep.

[DEATFBIRSECIA]

The next day I do it all over again, unless of course it's the weekend, in which case I have a full 48 hours of free time, something until recently unheard of, but which I take full advantage of to read, exercise (even in the winter with the assistance of another amazing machine), and ponder my place in life.

And I'm thankful, fully aware that what I have is precious, and that very few people in history have been afforded this remarkable gift.

[R C Dean]

Nicely put, D.

I struggle against my pessimism. I think its frustration that, although we have it very good indeed, we could have it so much better. I see vast, unnecessary direct and opportunity costs everywhere, due mostly to the the fact that I see government everywhere.

[0x90]

When I am feeling optimistic, I look at history and see a steady trend toward greater individual freedom. When I am not, I remember that I will not live to be 3000 years old.

[Francisco d'Anconia]

we could have it so much better

Ding, ding, ding! Winner!

And, the absolute undeniable fact is...so could the poor. The socialists among us (read anyone supporting anything other than free market capitalism) are the ones holding back the poor. PERIOD!

[DEATFBIRSECIA]

Completely agree. If the awful leech known as the Federal Government could somehow be reduced to some semblance of its intended scope, then perhaps most, if not all, of the people could prosper.

[NotAnotherSkippy]

When the government stops stealing 50% of what I make that'll all be nice.

[Tornado16nb]

Do you realize how ridiculous the gov taking 50% is??? I like how someone framed in terms of work days. For a 5 day week, that means the first 2.5 days are you working for the government. I think this is a good argument to use as a rebuttal to people who want more taxes...they don't realize the implications

If the bern gets his way it will go north of 70% if you are in the upper income levels not necessarily 1 pct. Like folks in california.

[robc]

Samuel warned the Jews against a King because he would take 10%.

[Tornado16nb]

Jesus would have supported Bernie!!!

[Tornado16nb]

Jesus would have supported Bernie!!!

[Tornado16nb]

Isn't this the most peaceful time in history in terms of violence?

And then id argue everyone is more equal than before like:

cell phones - the richest guy in the world doesn't have a phone much better than mine
TVs - flat screens are cheap
Toilets - my grandpa used to have to go the bathroom in an out house. the rich did not. i have 2 bathrooms
Heat, AC, water - pretty much everyone has
Access to food and quality of food
Cars - now there are some nicer cars but the functions and gadgets are pretty similar from low end to high
Internet- i think people don't appreciate things like youtube how valuable it is for things like fixing stuff and DIY
Clothes

Other than houses and things like land/location...the diminishing returns has hit for everything else for the gap between poor and rich

[Homple]

"Isn't this the most peaceful time in history in terms of violence?"

1913 seemed pretty peaceful compared to now. Say what you want, there wasn't at that time anything like the huge refugee crisis fueled by violent conflict in the Middle East and Africa.

Things are peaceful in the developed world, but a guy's cell phone is pretty small comfort when Boko Haram or ISIS show up.

[colorblindkid]

But the difference is largely due to the much larger population today, which is only possible because of the medical and technological advancements of the last 100 years, most of which came from Europe and America.

[Homple]

Now that should cheer up the folks when Boko Haram or ISIS come calling.

[Tornado16nb]

Yea i guess i was talking about the developed world mainly the US because i hear people talking about how terrible capitalism is and oligarchy and we are slaves. They don't appreciate how good they have it. I like that one quote i saw a few weeks back somewhere along the lines of "the youth can chat about the wonders of socialism all in thanks to capitalism"

The middle east will be screwed up for the forseeable time.

[Homple]

"The middle east will be screwed up for the forseeable time."

Don't forget Africa.

[kbolino]

Say what you want, there wasn't at that time anything like the huge refugee crisis fueled by violent conflict in the Middle East and Africa.

?1 Second Aliyah
?1 Ellis Island
?1 Japanese invasion of Manchuria

[Homple]

Ellis Island immigration wasn't a humanitarian crisis like the ME-Europe migrations today, but rather an orderly transfer of people to a better life.

I'll give you the other two.

[kbolino]

Eh, people came to Ellis Island for many different reasons. The fact that it was handled in a (somewhat) orderly fashion on the receiving end doesn't say much about the sending end. The Syrian refugee crisis* is being dealt with in a fairly "orderly" manner by the Canadian and US governments (but not so much the European ones).

* = A name that brings to mind Voltaire's assessment of the Holy Roman Empire

[Homple]

They're not all Syrian, many of them are economic migrants, but if it's not a crisis, it will do until one comes along.

[Homple]

Wait, the Japanese invasion of Manchuria was in the 1930s, not the year before WWI. I'll take that one back.

[kbolino]

Hmm, yeah my timetable is a bit off there. The Japanese had their eyes on it and had fought the Russians for it but didn't gain it yet thanks to the diplomatic involvement of the US.

[Hyperbolical]

Internet access is a mixed bag. Some people use it to answer biting questions and to enlarge their understanding of the world. Others spend the same amount of time and effort posting pictures of their pets and meals, while Liking and Sharing the same subject matter from their friends. One group advances in potential while the other stays the same or regresses. The Internet becomes a microcosm of the world in which opportunities are won and ignored.

[Tornado16nb]

But i think you highlight my point.

"Others spend the same amount of time and effort posting pictures of their pets and meals, while Liking and Sharing the same subject matter from their friends."

The standard of living is so high that they are able to waste their time with stuff like this. That is why it irks me when they complain how terrible everything is.

Heck i remember the days when i had to call someone, get their address and write it down how to get there.

My phone has replaced my camera, my notepad for like groceries, mp3 player, GPS, scientific calculator, my tv remote, yellow pages

Amazing to me

[Hyperbolical]

But i think you highlight my point

Oh, I intended to. Sorry for the missed quote.

[Zeb]

And some people use the internet to reinforce their ridiculous and wrong beliefs about things. All of the world's knowledge is there, but so are all of the world's bullshit crackpot theories and misinformation.

[commodious spittoon]

The very poorest in the West can have all of those things and not work a day in their lives, thanks to the largess on which the welfare state draws. It's funny to hear welfare statists talk about helping the poor as if their own blood, sweat, or tears ever helped manifest the essential wealth such transfers require. Marginally less poor (and somewhat more ennobled) Westerners enjoy all of those things plus a greater degree of material freedom to travel and enjoy constructive hobbies with only a modicum of effort relative to what our ancestors would have exerted to enjoy bare subsistence.

Those with some skill and diligence can afford to invest and maintain relatively lavish lifestyles. My dad is one of these: he works 60+ hour weeks, spends his spare time between his rentals, and once or twice a year takes a few days off to travel. Ten to twelve hour days five or six days a week would have been the norm a century ago, but because his efforts are aided by tremendous capital investments, he earns considerably greater wealth than his antecedents in previous generations.

[DesigNate]

If he's working 60+ hour weeks, isn't he still will working those 10 to 12 hour days?

I know I have to just to keep treading water (plus I'm a work-a-holic).

[Hyperbolical]

Workaholism can do terrible things to your health. Take it from a former workaholic.

[DesigNate]

I'd probably be able to cut way back if it wasn't basically just me and the Owner. And if clients understood that design and construction documents take time to prepare.

[Adans smith]

Read Dixie Lee Ray's Trashing the Planet people.Great book by a very educated and thoughtful lady.

[colorblindkid]

But a hundred years ago women and black people in college didn't have to deal with a world filled with microaggressions and the horrors of benevolent sexism and racism.

[Adans smith]

Just hunger,horse crap on the streets,lice and all those vermin,No fresh veggies or meat most of the time.People died in droves by food poisoning and childhood diseases and even cuts and medical needs now easily handled.The past was cold,dark,smelly,disease ridden and fowl smelling with limited food.

[colorblindkid]

But everything was organic! Those were the days.

[commodious spittoon]

E. coli and norovirus are organic!

[Tornado16nb]

The emergence of micro-agressions and trigger warnings i think shows how far the US has come in terms of tolerance and in terms of standard of living. the SJWs literally have to make up things to get offended by...they really are grasping.

The standard of living means they have a bunch of comforts now which allows them time to find things to be offended by. I think they are bored and need something to do and boost esteem.

[colorblindkid]

There's a reason why fewer than a third of American women label themselves feminists although nearly everybody believes in equal rights. The feminists think it's because the patriarchy brainwashes women and twist their message, when it's actually the message itself.

[Tornado16nb]

Ironically the feminists want to empower women by having the government fight their battles for them which isnt empowering at all.

[Microaggressor]

Well, the pessimist in me insists that I'm so fucking poor compared to what I'd be in 2116 I can barely stand it all!

We can solve that problem, Nick. #FeelTheBern

[Swiss Servator]

I look at my mentor and my Uncle who had fought in WWII....then my own time in war. I almost feel shame at how much I had compared to them - medical care, food, often I could call or email home, personal armor, GPS, etc.

I was in villages where people burned dried animal dung for heat or to cook on. Mud houses. Shit out on the dusty ground near the houses. I even ran into Kuchi nomads.....camel borne freaking tent-living nomads.

And I bitched about the very good coffee machine not getting completely reloaded at work yesterday... I am going to go kick myself in the arse now. Then, after work I am going to go home and appreciate my life in this day and age.

[Rufus The Monocled Derp Slayer]

Scotiabank: You're richer than you think.

Scoria is one of Canada's Big Six banks and that's their slogan.

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[Troy muy grande boner]

No one opens their advertisement with, "you're far better off than you've ever been! quit bitching! You could have died of polio when you were 4!""

I struggle against my pessimism.

I try to keep in mind that even though that as a poor American, am VASTLY better off than most other members of the human race. And that it is my fault that I am poor (but fuck that AG job was boring)

Isn't this the most peaceful time in history in terms of violence?

IF you are lucky enough to live in the US, yes. This is probably a hollow argument for any resident of Allepo. (I was going to be snarky and put in some dates but after doing some research that would be to big of a pain in the ass as it seems as if Alleppo can't go 20 minutes without some violence).

[Troy muy grande boner]

I'm surrounded by light, my bong, filled with at the moment the most delicious Blue Cookies and Trainwreck

Well good for you. Many are still unlucky enough to live in state where the pigs are more the willing to kill you in enforcing laws against such activity. And I think this is the crux of the problem when Nick does these sorts of articles.

Yeah, anecdotally, an individual might be better off. And maybe we are 90% the way there. And maybe Nick does need to keep reminding us of this. And the right thing to do is to acknowledge how well things are.....for some of us.

But as long as people are getting ass-raped for smoking weed, pigs can kill without consequence, the NSA can spy with out any oversight, and wedding are getting droned, there is still a lot of improvement necessary.

[Troy muy grande boner]

Fucking tags, how do they work. It' be nice if the fucking preview button worked with chrome and the stupid 1500 character limit.

The I struggle with my pessimism was supposed to be italicized.