Below are selected bullets taken from Jeff Thredgold’s “TeaLeaf” economics blog. See the whole list at his website.
• Between 1980 and 2007, total emissions of major air pollutants within the U.S. dropped by 52%
• The number of people who have quit smoking (46 million) now exceeds the number who still smoke (45 million). Roughly 21% of adults smoke today, versus nearly half in the early 1950s
• Traffic deaths per 100 million miles traveled during 2008 were the lowest on record
• Conventional thirty-year fixed-rate mortgages have been between 4.75% and 5.15% in recent weeks, some of the lowest levels on record
• The number of new cancer cases and deaths are falling for the first time since the government began compiling a report on long-term trends
• Incomes for the poorest one-fifth of all earners have grown an average of 3.9% annually since 1994, slightly outpacing the 3.4%-3.6% average gain of those in the middle three-fifths of incomes
• Average U.S. life expectancy has reached 78 years (men 75, women 80), the highest ever. This compares to 76 years in 1995, 68 years in 1950, and 47 years in 1900
• For every dollar of U.S. economic output generated today, we burn less than half as much oil as 30 years ago
• Children’s deaths from unintentional injury have dropped by almost 40% since 1987. Bicycle deaths fell 60%, while firearms-related deaths fell 72%
• Seat belt usage by Americans was at 82% in 2007, versus 49% in 1990 and 14% in 1983
• Donations to charity set an all-time high in 2007, with more than $300 billion donated by individuals, foundations, and corporations. As a percentage of GDP, Americans gave twice as much as the next most charitable nation…England
• Air pollution declined 25% over the past 30 years even as the population and the economy grew.
• Alcohol-related traffic fatalities in the most recently reported year dropped by more than half versus 20 years ago
• Substantiated cases of childhood sexual abuse have fallen 49% since 1990. Physical abuse of children is down by 43%
• Police officer deaths from gunfire during 2008 were the lowest in more than 50 years
• The Consumer Price Index (CPI) has actually declined 0.4% during the most recent 12-month period—the first 12-month decline since 1955—helping to stretch consumer incomes
{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
Brian 04.16.09 at 4:34 am
I would argue that contracting CPI is hardly a tea leaf for the good. It is a very negative indicator. Our economy REQUIRES some inflation to perform. Price contraction just means people are losing their homes and jobs.
Mark W 04.17.09 at 12:26 pm
Efficiency in manufacturing has been the biggest jump start to the economy and quality of life increases, not inflation by any means. But now we are competing with the slave wage and atificially controlled Chinese yuan that is dictated by a authoritarian government. This has askewed all the numbers.
Brian 04.17.09 at 7:53 pm
Mark, Agreed, Efficiency, or Productivity as economists call it, is the measure of how the quality of life improves (shorter work weeks, more luxuries, food less a percent of family income, etc). Inflation, is just a change in the amount of a given unit of exchange to buy the same commodity. But I maintain that some inflation is a requirement of a healthy capitalist economic system.
Because zero change in the rate of exchange is not possible for any length of time (the dollar will be worth less or more at any given time), economic planners, aka Fed Reserve and Treasury officials need to pick one direction of the other to apply their policies. Deflation, or an increase in the value of the unit of exchange, means people will want to wait until the items purchased with that unit of exchange become even cheaper. Take the housing market in Phoenix for example (PLEASE, as Henny Youngman would say). But inflation causes people to buy sooner than later, as items become more and more expensive for the same unit of exchange.
Inflation encourages consumption. Consumption encourages full employment. Full employment creates a good quality of life for everyone. As long as inflation stays within a reasonable range, so that business can adjust its pricing accordingly, there is no damage done. As businesses bring in more money by selling goods at a higher price, they can also pay higher wages. No one in this country has suffered from the past 50 years of inflation, which has been 1000% or more (my parents first 3BR house purchased in 1955 cost $8000). Just the opposite, the quality of life has improved by just about every economic measure.
randi 04.24.09 at 5:27 am
that is something nice as there was nothing to cheer about in the last few days