Gloom and Doom Always - Why?

I cannot ever remember people talking about things getting BETTER - the glass always seems to be half empty - it is the same in the US as it seems to be in India ...

Why is it that doom and gloom seems to attract people and good news does not? Those that cry out loud that the World is Ending, the World is Ending get all the attention - and if someone were to say - Chill out - things are actually better than they were, he or she is considered a nut and may get thrown into some deep, dark dungeon - Seems like Humans WANT to hear bad news and cannot stand to hear the good that is out there

Mumbai - for example. Crowded? Oh yes. But then - has it NOT been EVER crowded? Not really. In the late 1970's there were fewer cars and perhaps there were fewer people - I remember when there was rationing of basic foodstuff - rice, wheat, sugar, milk - but even then there was plenty to be bought on the black market - so the problem was not supply - but deliberate constriction of the supply by those that wanted to make money bypassing the usual mechanisms of the markets - Is Mumbai crowded today? Oh yes - there are more cars, trucks, buses, people on the road - then again, how objective am I? I do not live in Mumbai now - just visit - so are my observations accurate? Tough to say really.

I do see however that Mumbai IS thriving in many ways - more roads, traffic does seem to move along quite well (really) and there are merchants/businesses that seem to sell what people want to buy - Matunga Market is a dense collection of roadside vendors, shops - handcarts, individuals trying to sell you whatever they are carrying - there is a buzz about the place - Crowded? hell yes ... but instead of seeing just the crowds, what I saw was the economic activity - buying and selling - exchanges - the movement and transport of goods of all kinds - people working on different things - Poverty? Oh yes - some of it can be difficult to see and walk by - it seems to coexist almost peacefully with those that are running brisk businesses and making money

There are many problems to be solved - and the human capacity to innovate and solve problems is truly limitless - the world IS getting better and not worse - so cheer up - I heard from a High School classmate of mine (Sai Prasad) as to how Africa is also getting better - With rare exceptions (Iran, Venezuela, Cuba, parts of China, Russia) people are living better and life is getting better for most people ...

I am an optimist - Tomorrow will be better than today - because today is better than it was yesterday!

Better and Cheaper

In 1979, the cost of a ticket from Bombay to Houston was $1000 (one way) (I will assume that the round trip cost would have been about the same, just a bit higher, I'll say $1200). Using this site
http://www.minneapolisfed.org/ I calculated what the $1200 in 1979 would be in 2011 dollars (adjusted for inflation) - and I got $3684. The actual cost of a ticket (round trip) in 2011 is between $1600 to $1800 in the summer and higher during winter times ($2500 or s0). Thus, an airline ticket in 2011 between India and the US is about HALF as it was in 1979 (best case) or about 30% SMALLER ...

So, things are getting better and cheaper ...

(Why? One may ask ... Better materials of construction for engines, body of plane - higher fuel efficiencies, better engines!)

Capitalism - some links

(as seen on cafehayek.com)

Cleaned – and Educated – by Capitalism

by Don Boudreaux on March 26, 2011

in Cleaned by Capitalism,Complexity and Emergence,Entertainment,Everyday Life,Growth,History,Standard of Living,Video,Work

Do not miss this wonderful TED talk by Hans Rosling. He celebrates the washing machine – a device to us moderns so banal, so obvious, even (for some of us) so harmful to the environment, what with its use of electricity and chemicals and water. (HT Thomas Boudreaux)

This video captures so very well a vital element in the story of economic growth.

In the same vein, I recommend also the 1999 four-part television series 1900 House.

Carpe Diem’s Mark Perry seizes the opportunity to bring to our attention these clips of the late, great Milton Friedman. Here, here, and here.

"We are running out of fill-in-the-blank"

Oh yes, we are running out of this, that, other because we are voracious animals ...

Yea, whatever ...

http://www.learnliberty.org/node/73 (no, we are not)

Solution for Water shortages?

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703735804575536560185801260.html?mod=WSJ_hps_MIDDLESecondNews

Always on the lookout for solutions ...

Israel drills for gas

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304250404575558134023689648.html?mod=WSJ_hps_MIDDLETopStories

100 year supply??

Capitalism Saved the Miners

Henninger explains ...

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703673604575550322091167574.html?mod=WSJ_Opinion_LEADTop

"If those miners had been trapped a half-mile down like this 25 years ago anywhere on earth, they would be dead. What happened over the past 25 years that meant the difference between life and death for those men?

Short answer: the Center Rock drill bit.

This is the miracle bit that drilled down to the trapped miners. Center Rock Inc. is a private company in Berlin, Pa. It has 74 employees. The drill's rig came from Schramm Inc. in West Chester, Pa. Seeing the disaster, Center Rock's president, Brandon Fisher, called the Chileans to offer his drill. Chile accepted. The miners are alive"

Here is a gem from the OpEd

"In an open economy, you will never know what is out there on the leading developmental edge of this or that industry. But the reality behind the miracles is the same: Someone innovates something useful, makes money from it, and re-innovates, or someone else trumps their innovation. Most of the time, no one notices. All it does is create jobs, wealth and well-being. But without this system running in the background, without the year-over-year progress embedded in these capitalist innovations, those trapped miners would be dead"