Be Happy! The World Is Getting Better

Gloom and doom is just about all we get from the media and most pundits.  Take heart!  The world really is getting better.  Here, in an interview with Russ Roberts,  Joel Mokyr of Northwestern University explains why.

The audio file referenced above will take about an hour to listen to, but it's worth your time.  It's just an ordinary mp3 file, so download it to you smart phone and listen to it while you're commuting.

Fighting Povety in America

Here, Michael Tanner reports a startling fact:

In total, the United States spends nearly $1 trillion every year to fight poverty. That amounts to $20,610 for every poor person in America, or $61,830 per poor family of three.

Don't you suppose that just about any poor family of three would be tickled silly to have $61,830 in income per year?  Why don't we just give the poor the money and dispense with the 126 federal welfare programs that currently require bureaucrats to administer?