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ZEITGEIST

Americans Are Wrong to Be Pessimistic

Hey, things are better than ever, says author

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by Dain Fitzgerald

Staff Writer t +

Image: cooltattoos.tumblr.com

Life in general is on the up and up, says bestselling author and trend spotter Steven Johnson. Why, then, do Americans so often believe they're on a downward spiral?

Blame the media (Politix included), he says, which tends to focus on the negative, buttressed by folks' cognitive predisposition to find bad news more compelling than good news. They'd be forgiven, says Johnson, for failing to notice that for "high school dropout rates, juvenile crime, drunken driving, traffic deaths, infant mortality, life expectancy, air pollution, divorce, charitable giving, GDP and teen pregnancy" - whew! - the trends are all positive.

"Americans enjoy longer, healthier lives in more stable families and communities than we did 20 years ago," says Johnson. "But these facts are rarely reported or shared via word-of-mouth channels."

Of course, some of these trends only appear positive because of certain other trends arguably less impressive. There are fewer divorces because fewer folks are getting married to begin with, for example.

Via CNN.
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Are you happy with the direction the country is going?

176 Comments (view in Forum)

  • Comment removed for Engagement Etiquette violation. Replies may also be deleted.
  • Neo_NtheMatrix
    !
    Am I happy with the direction of the nation? NO!!! As long as obama is free to spend us into oblivion I can never be happy with the direction of the nation. Plus obama is immoral. That by itself is something I can't get with. Leadership starts at the top.
  • Neo_NtheMatrix
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    @dances-weebles - Yes, immoral. He believes in abortion, he believes in executing American citizens without a trial, he believes in feeding people that don't work, and he believes in a whole host of other things that are immoral. Leadership starts at the top. If our leader is going in the wrong direction, then so must the nation go in the wrong direction. I think it's crystal clear to 50+ percent of Americans that we are not headed in a holy direction.
  • mtkopf
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    @Neo_NtheMatrix helping people who are less fortunate by feeding them is immoral? I bet you believe that helping those after hurricane Sandy is immoral also. Is greed moral? I ask because greed can be the only reason to let the millions who are currently receiving food stamps starve.

    BTW greed is one of the seven deadly sins therefore you are the one who is immoral.
  • Neo_NtheMatrix
    !
    @mtkopf - I am not a millionaire, and what greed do I speak of?

    Letting people starve would be immoral. However, I didn't say obama feeds people who are starving, I said he feeds people who don't work. There's a radical difference between what you implied and what I actually said.

    If obama required those people to earn their food then I wouldn't have any problem with it (even though, that still would the private sector's function, not the public sector). I don't know why the things I say are taken as being extreme. They are just common sense things. Is a teacher supposed to give her students an A+ for their homework assignment even if they haven't turned in an assignment? We wouldn't want to let the children fail, now would we? I'm just completely baffled at the resistance to the idea of people earning a living.

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  • lawnmowrman
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    How could I be happy about the direction the country is going? My life is far more difficult now than it was in the 90s. I'm working a number of on the side jobs for $0.50 to $2 an hour. I can afford to eat one small meal every thirty hours. One small meal equals one can of corn or peas. My home is void of heat. I have to hand pollinate 1100 square feet of okra in the summer, because there are not enough bees left to do it for me. I do not thank the government and Mosanto for that. Summer is brutal without air conditioning. Sitting in air that's 25 degrees hotter than the outdoor temp during the day is tolerable. Trying to fall asleep in air that is still above a 100 is not tolerable. We have a government that protects bums just because of their enormous wealth. I see the same kind of thing going on with people all around me. I know people that are working sun up to sun down just to pay rent. I'd like to read the author's book. My first impression based on what little was said is Idiot.
  • lawnmowrman
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    @Polusalo My computer is fourteen years old. It runs on Windows 98. The existence of my computer is a non issue. It is true that I do blow $12 every month for internet.
  • Polusalo
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    @lawnmowrman
    You have to admit, for someone who claims to only eat a can of corn or a can of peas a day, the internet would seem to be a luxury they wouldn't have.
  • lawnmowrman
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    @Polusalo I define luxury as any item or service not required to sustain life. Yes internet does fit into that category. My rations schedule is no longer that big of a deal to me. I've been eating this way for several years. My parents, whose income exceeds 100K, are afraid that I will eventually accept my current living standards as comfortable. Their probably right. They offered to pay from their own pocket so I could have heat. I rejected that offer. I'm already beginning to wonder why I was ever willing to blow money for comfort's sake.
  • martydotcom
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    @Polusalo suggest you rethink how you deploy your limited resources and efforts. A career with McDonald's would be far more rewarding. Perhaps your poor decision making, not the government landed you in your difficult situation. It's just easier to blame all things on Obama vs personal responsibility

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  • RobertJHarsh
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    All of those "trends" maybe be moving back to the "positive", but will the author have the same opinion in 15 years when 65% of the country is a non-producers and the 30-35% of the "rich" who make more than 50k a year are being crushed under taxes to support the gimmedat programs of the govt?
  • dances-weebles
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    um... first of all, 50k a year is far from being rich. it's low middle income. if it appears to you to be rich, then you're in serious trouble.

    as far as the 'rich' go, yes... they should be taxed until they are living on the same level as are the lower middle class people. nobody needs more than food, a house, reasonable clothing when everything they have is worn out and cheap transport.
  • RobertJHarsh
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    @dances-weebles Remember...govt says what is "rich", not me or anyone else. They'll redefine what "rich" is every so often and each time the number gets lower and lower. Today, it is around $250k. Ten years from now, yeah I can see it being lowered to $50k.

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  • Laradian
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    I agree. But that is a violation of the Neo-Conservative, Rush Bimbaugh Constitution.

    The only way there will ever be a bright, happy united states as far as he is concerned, is when all the Democrats and Liberals are dead and out of the way.

    No one who listens to the big-mouth, radio Pumpkinhead wants to live in peace side by side with anyone on the Left. So from here on out any news no matter how good it is will be viewed as bad by those people. Their lives are in complete shambles over the reelection of Obama. They are buying guns and building bunkers under their houses because they are so afraid that clown Glenn Lonesome Rhodes Beck is right.
  • Thunderchicken
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    @woodtick57

    Our fiances. Spending has always been a problem but through the `80s and `90s we could have done so much to put our finances in better shape and we squandered the opportunity. Yeah I know hindsight is always 20-20. But even in the `70s there were people warning us about it.
  • S-N-A-F-U
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    The author is living in a cave inverted. We have a president who came from no where, no executive experience, or for that matter, no experience in anything other than an Alinsky community organizer. Hasn't a modicum of understanding of how businesses or economies work. In four years he has generated 5 Trillion dollars of debt - and on going @ four Billion $$$ a day. BHO always blaims others for his Incompetence. President Truman had a sign in the oval orifice that stated: "The Buck Stops Here!" No truer words were ever spoken.

    So far, in the last 90 days he has created over 6000 job and freedom killing regulations. Businesses and societies don't flourish under repressive governments.
    And still, he was elected when everthing about his past is still sealed from public view, the question still remains Why??
  • Jet_Silverman
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    @S-N-A-F-U I just wanted to know *one* of those 6K job and freedom killing regulations. I didn't want links to endless stories I'm going to have to go though only to find there is nothing to find. So, please, tell me one of those thousands of freedom and job killing regulations Obama has created. Six thousand in 90 days is around 67 per day, 3 each and every hour. That's a lot of regulation creating. Heck, you should be even able to come up with 2.
  • mtkopf
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    @S-N-A-F-U just because you post a link of some guy ranting about POTUS and 6k new regulations does not make it reality. Show me a list of the alleged regulations from an official source not joeblowsrants.com .

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  • SpookyThreeTwo
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    Americans are wrong to be pessimistic. They need to be more sarcastic. The crap they have in the news AMUSES me. I live to watch all the murders and stupid shit people do.
  • Ashstop
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    You mean communist right?.. Walmart checker makes as much as CEO does? I want to live in a country where everyone has an equal chance but were I can rise above the average if I work hard enough, the rate I'm going now ill just be an above average tax payer..anyone who pays taxes will be above average soon
    Hopefully you are joking, your remark about 3rd best president shows you have a sence of humor
  • mimi57
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    ..and we have to get tattoo's reminding ourselves things aren't that bad...maybe if we repeat it long enough we
    can start to believe it, but, sooner or later we still have to face reality, and the"tea Leaves" ain't looking too good.
  • dances-weebles
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    @mimi57 the tealeaves never have been much more than a soggy mess in the bottom of the cup. if you really wish to see into the future, then either watch the images in the flames dancing above the yule log or sleep with a wolf's bane branch under your pillow.

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  • wayne2453
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    businesses are shedding employees to get under the ObamaCARE threshold. The EPA will soon unleash a flood of new so-called clean air rules that will send energy costs through the roof. the flood of new business and finance regulations coming out of the Obama executive branch are a nightmare. Taxes going up on small business owners and capital gains. There is nothing on the horizon with four more years of Obama that gives any hope for a better business and economic climate ahead.Here`s your pink slip. if you`re an Obama voter, you did it to yourselves.
  • Russell797
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    You favor one side over the other in the things you mention above. We need a balanced approach to health care, the environment and the economy. There needs to be regulation in order to bring proper balance to issues controlled by self interested parties. Unfortunately, given human nature, people have to be forced to do what is right by others.
  • Buckfan4life2
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    The Obama backed media wants to make you think it is just like Politix for even posting this. The sad part is that theres sheeple out here that believes it.
  • MIDutch
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    I wonder how many "conservative" posters would trade places with people living 50, 100, 200 years ago? Wonder how many of them will remember their comments honestly 4 years from now?
  • Jet_Silverman
    !
    Really? Can you name a liberty we have given up? Last time I checked, we are getting more. It's legal to smoke pot in a few states, legal to marry the partner of your choice, even if they are of the same sex, that's just since October. Think of liberties we have gained since the 60's! Abortion, the abolition of segregation laws. It wasn't until 2003 that we could engage in any sex act with a fellow consenting adult we chose to engage in. People are living longer, violent crime is going down...(any violent crime is bad, but it's good that it's going down!)
  • Jet_Silverman
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    @FollowTheMoney we have representation. And do you have any evidence that professional politicians "had our backs" at any prior time? To lose a liberty, you have to have it in the first place.
  • Jet_Silverman
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    @FollowTheMoney IOW, you don't have any evidence that politicians had our backs at any prior time in history.(I assume you would have presented it if you had any.) Fine. But why not just admit that instead of insulting me?

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  • DARSB
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    The comments here, by and large, mirror the mindset that cost the Republicans so much in the recent election: if the evidence contradicts your belief, ignore the evidence.

    We saw that denial in play here on Politix when a poll asked about bias in political polling. Charges of liberal bias were rampant and completely baseless, but the plain evidence of accuracy that arose after the votes were counted was ignored or denied.

    By most objective measures things are improving. Denying the numbers is a losing response and serves mostly to place the denier squarely in the irrelevant category.

    PS - the divorce rate is calculated as a number per 100,000 population, not as a percentage of marriages. This means changing numbers of marriages don't effect the rate and it allows side by side comparisons between states that have differing population sizes.
  • PNWest
    !
    What's the idea of spouting all of this common sense on a Sunday morning? If any of those on the right actually listen to you they might try and grow a smart conservative. They've been pretty much extinct sine Barry Goldwater died.
  • DARSB
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    @PNWest Thank you. I do think there are plenty of smart conservatives, though. It's just that most of them no longer identify themselves as Republicans.
  • PNWest
    !
    @PNWest Reince Priebus got called in to a teachers conference. The teacher told him that when she asked the children what their dads did for a living his kid said "my daddy plays piano in a whorehouse". Priebus replied "I'm head of the Republican National Committee but how do you explain something like that to an 8 year old".

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