traineeinvestor
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Mathew Ridley has posted a list of 17 reasons to be optimistic on his blog http://www.rationaloptimist.com/blog/reader's-digest.aspx
While I am not as optimistic as Mr Ridley for a number of reasons (global warming, debt/deficit issues, extinction of species, desertification, etc etc etc), it's a useful reminder that there are a lot of positive things including:
One thing I don't aagree with is the environmental comments - globally, my unscientific $0.02 is that things are continuing to deteriorate.
While I am not as optimistic as Mr Ridley for a number of reasons (global warming, debt/deficit issues, extinction of species, desertification, etc etc etc), it's a useful reminder that there are a lot of positive things including:
1. We're better off now
Compared with 50 years ago, when I was just four years old, the average human now earns nearly three times as much money (corrected for inflation), eats one third more calories, buries two thirds fewer children, and can expect to live one third longer. In fact, it's hard to find any region of the world that's worse off now than it was then, even though the global population has more than doubled over that period.
12. We are the luckiest generation
This generation has experienced more peace, freedom, leisure time, education, medicine, and travel than any in history. Yet it laps up gloom at every opportunity. Consumers do not celebrate their wonderful field of choice and, according to psychologists, say they are "overwhelmed." When I go to my local superstore, I do not see people driven to misery by the impossibility of choice. I see people choosing.
One thing I don't aagree with is the environmental comments - globally, my unscientific $0.02 is that things are continuing to deteriorate.