Why can’t we see that we’re living in a golden age?

[barryqwalsh]

If you look at all the data, it’s clear there’s never been a better time to be alive
Johan Norberg

‘We have fallen upon evil times, politics is corrupt and the social fabric is fraying.’ Who said that? Donald Trump or Bernie Sanders? Nigel Farage or Marine Le Pen? It’s difficult to keep track. They sound so alike, the populists of the left and the right. Everything is awful, so bring on the scapegoats and the knights on white horses.

Pessimism resonates. A YouGov poll found that just 5 per cent of Britons think that the world, all things considered, is getting better. You would think that the chronically cheerful Americans might be more optimistic — well, yes, 6 per cent of them think that the world is improving. More Americans believe in astrology and reincarnation than in progress.

Johan Norberg and Fraser Nelson discuss the doom delusion:




Why can’t we see that we’re living in a golden age?

 

[The Great Goose]

nah it sux. Too many people about.

 

[owebo]

Not in America anyway......

 

[skye]

The Golden Age?



You could have fooled me.

 

[Ozone]

i salute you, nigel, you're the last true englishman, there will never be another.

 

[MisterBeale]

This is why. . . .

 

[Old Rocks]

Yes, we can make things better, however, there is no doubt that we are living in the best of times.

As I have said before, I am 72 years old. When I was very young, we actually lived for a while in a house with no running water or electricity. Cooked and heated with a wood burning kitchen stove. Used an outhouse summer and winter. A couple of decades ago, I found a watermelon in a store in February, the first time I has seen such. Bought it for the wife for Valentines day. Now fruits and fresh vegitables out of season are rule, not the exception. I can remember when you checked your bank account before making a call to an adjacent state. Today you can call halfway around the world for very little. And that phone you carry is more powerful than all the computers on board the Apollo 13.

The net has put the world's knowledge at our fingertips. In fact, a middle class American has more access to real wealth, diet, medicine, travel, and education, than the very wealthy of the 1800 century did. I simply cannot understand the wingnuts on either side bellyaching about how horrible the present times are. These are wonderful times to be alive in.

 

[kaz]

If you look at all the data, it’s clear there’s never been a better time to be alive
Johan Norberg

View attachment 86047

‘We have fallen upon evil times, politics is corrupt and the social fabric is fraying.’ Who said that? Donald Trump or Bernie Sanders? Nigel Farage or Marine Le Pen? It’s difficult to keep track. They sound so alike, the populists of the left and the right. Everything is awful, so bring on the scapegoats and the knights on white horses.

Pessimism resonates. A YouGov poll found that just 5 per cent of Britons think that the world, all things considered, is getting better. You would think that the chronically cheerful Americans might be more optimistic — well, yes, 6 per cent of them think that the world is improving. More Americans believe in astrology and reincarnation than in progress.

Johan Norberg and Fraser Nelson discuss the doom delusion:




Why can’t we see that we’re living in a golden age?

Democrats have just lost it in their greed

 

[kaz]

The Golden Age?



You could have fooled me.

Apparently it was pretty easy to fool you because this is the greatest of times to be alive. And the Democrats want to kill that in their greed

 

[sonic]

If you look at all the data, it’s clear there’s never been a better time to be alive
Johan Norberg

View attachment 86047

‘We have fallen upon evil times, politics is corrupt and the social fabric is fraying.’ Who said that? Donald Trump or Bernie Sanders? Nigel Farage or Marine Le Pen? It’s difficult to keep track. They sound so alike, the populists of the left and the right. Everything is awful, so bring on the scapegoats and the knights on white horses.

Pessimism resonates. A YouGov poll found that just 5 per cent of Britons think that the world, all things considered, is getting better. You would think that the chronically cheerful Americans might be more optimistic — well, yes, 6 per cent of them think that the world is improving. More Americans believe in astrology and reincarnation than in progress.

Johan Norberg and Fraser Nelson discuss the doom delusion:




Why can’t we see that we’re living in a golden age?

Exactly. The problem is we have an astonishing number of people in this country who let pundits rule their thinking through ideologically driven nonsense. We've never seen it stronger than it is right now. "we want our country back" being code for "get this black guy out of office"
And unfortunately a bunch clueless Americans managed to get Trump - an incompetent, immoral, narcissistic, racist, who thrives on dividing the nation through absurd White Nationalist speech, nominated to be the leader of our country.
So we DO live in a golden age, just not the one these right wingers with one foot in the grave who want to return to the 1950's want to see,

 

[WaitingFor2020]

If you look at all the data, it’s clear there’s never been a better time to be alive
Johan Norberg

View attachment 86047

‘We have fallen upon evil times, politics is corrupt and the social fabric is fraying.’ Who said that? Donald Trump or Bernie Sanders? Nigel Farage or Marine Le Pen? It’s difficult to keep track. They sound so alike, the populists of the left and the right. Everything is awful, so bring on the scapegoats and the knights on white horses.

Pessimism resonates. A YouGov poll found that just 5 per cent of Britons think that the world, all things considered, is getting better. You would think that the chronically cheerful Americans might be more optimistic — well, yes, 6 per cent of them think that the world is improving. More Americans believe in astrology and reincarnation than in progress.

Johan Norberg and Fraser Nelson discuss the doom delusion:




Why can’t we see that we’re living in a golden age?

It's the Gilded Age for the 1%. But the U.S. has cobbled our way out of Mr. Bush's massive financial mess far better than all other countries who have endured sheer misery due to his unfathomable stupidity. And Dick Cheney's GREED.

 

[WaitingFor2020]

The Golden Age?



You could have fooled me.

Apparently it was pretty easy to fool you because this is the greatest of times to be alive. And the Democrats want to kill that in their greed

Duly noted that you feel inadequate to expound on that woefully sad and stupid comment.

 

[kaz]

The Golden Age?



You could have fooled me.

Apparently it was pretty easy to fool you because this is the greatest of times to be alive. And the Democrats want to kill that in their greed

Duly noted that you feel inadequate to expound on that woefully sad and stupid comment.

That made no sense, Pocahontas

 

[skye]

The Golden Age?



You could have fooled me.

Apparently it was pretty easy to fool you because this is the greatest of times to be alive. And the Democrats want to kill that in their greed

hmmmm.....the greatest time to be alive?

you sure? I don't know....

 

[Timmy]

People look at history wh rose colored glasses .

It wasn't to long ago when you would wake up and worry about nuclear war!

Now we worry about transgender bathroom choices.

First world problems!

 

[The Great Goose]

Yes, we can make things better, however, there is no doubt that we are living in the best of times.

As I have said before, I am 72 years old. When I was very young, we actually lived for a while in a house with no running water or electricity. Cooked and heated with a wood burning kitchen stove. Used an outhouse summer and winter. A couple of decades ago, I found a watermelon in a store in February, the first time I has seen such. Bought it for the wife for Valentines day. Now fruits and fresh vegitables out of season are rule, not the exception. I can remember when you checked your bank account before making a call to an adjacent state. Today you can call halfway around the world for very little. And that phone you carry is more powerful than all the computers on board the Apollo 13.

The net has put the world's knowledge at our fingertips. In fact, a middle class American has more access to real wealth, diet, medicine, travel, and education, than the very wealthy of the 1800 century did. I simply cannot understand the wingnuts on either side bellyaching about how horrible the present times are. These are wonderful times to be alive in.

modern conveniences aren't everything. Decency is everything and that is ebbing out it's last breaths.

 

[Alex.]

Screw the data, however, I do agree this is the "golden age" and the time to be alive. Any time that I am alive is the time to be alive. I make my own golden age with the "hand that is dealt me". i can wax nostalgic for a time that I was not alive or too young to see the realities. I could see how my parents and grandparents long for the "good old times" , nevertheless that was their "golden age".

This is the time to seize and create my own golden age.

 

[The Great Goose]

People look at history wh rose colored glasses .

It wasn't to long ago when you would wake up and worry about nuclear war!

Now we worry about transgender bathroom choices.

First world problems!

No we don't. The media pretends we do. The universities permit us to worry about nothing but transgender bathrooms.

The people worry about over population.

 

[Timmy]

People look at history wh rose colored glasses .

It wasn't to long ago when you would wake up and worry about nuclear war!

Now we worry about transgender bathroom choices.

First world problems!

No we don't. The media pretends we do. The universities permit us to worry about nothing but transgender bathrooms.

The people worry about over population.

Maybe in China. Americans don't have big families anymore.

 

[Timmy]

The Golden Age?



You could have fooled me.

Apparently it was pretty easy to fool you because this is the greatest of times to be alive. And the Democrats want to kill that in their greed

hmmmm.....the greatest time to be alive?

you sure? I don't know....

What is your biggest concern?