Gee whiz, the future...is getting better?

Interesting rebuttal to the idea that the future is not what it used to be...

"Environmentalists and globalization foes are united in their fear that greater population and consumption of energy, materials, and chemicals accompanying economic growth, technological change and free trade—the mainstays of globalization—degrade human and environmental well-being.

Indeed, the 20th century saw the United States’ population multiply by four, income by seven, carbon dioxide emissions by nine, use of materials by 27, and use of chemicals by more than 100.

Yet life expectancy increased from 47 years to 77 years. Onset of major disease such as cancer, heart, and respiratory disease has been postponed between eight and eleven years in the past century. Heart disease and cancer rates have been in rapid decline over the last two decades, and total cancer deaths have actually declined the last two years, despite increases in population. Among the very young, infant mortality has declined from 100 deaths per 1,000 births in 1913 to just seven per 1,000 today...."

http://www.reason.com/news/show/119252.html

(Yet more) on global warming politics....

This article from today's NY Times discusses congressional investigation White House editing of government reports on global climate change.....

Material Shows Weakening of Cimate Reports.

Lack of health care coverage as a deadly health condition....

I put the slides I used in class yesterday here, up on the ANGEL lessons page for the class (the file is called "Health Care, S07". I also put the reports and articles from which I took the slides in a folder called "Health Care Policy Resources."

These studies are all at least a couple of years old now. I will try to add some links to newer studies as I have a chance to look for them. If you run across relevant studies or news articles, please post them to the blog.

Boomsday -- Economic Pressure of Retiring Baby Boomers

Here is a link to the book review that Dan Sokil made reference to in class yesterday. It is Boomsday by Christopher Buckley, a satire about how American society "deals" with the economic pressures that occur when the baby boom generation becomes eligible for Social Security.

Just Grinding My Axe

After monday's discussion on the uninsured and universal health care, I just wanted to provide some sources on the ways we could've spent all the money we've spent (wasted) on Iraq. Here are two articles that try to get a handle on what that money could've done for the U.S. and the world.

ABC NEWS: Who's Counting? How Iraq Trillions Could Have Been Spent?


NY TIMES: What $1.2 Trillion Can Buy.

Notice how both of these articles deal with medicine and health care around the world.