העורך Editor

Broad, Large-Scale American Decay: NUMBERS

Read on ironically-named “American Greatness” here…

An excerpt to set the tone:

The expectation of constant progress is deeply ingrained in our understanding of the world, and of America in particular. Some metrics do generally keep rising: gross domestic product mostly goes up, and so does the stock market. According to those barometers, things must be headed mostly in the right direction. Sure there are temporary setbacks—the economy has recessions, the stock market has corrections—but the long-term trajectory is upward. Are those metrics telling us that the country is growing more prosperous? Are they signals, or noise?

There is much that GDP and the stock market don’t tell us about, such as public and private debt levels, wage trends, and wealth concentration. In fact, during a half-century in which reported GDP grew consistently and the stock market reached the stratosphere, real wages have crept up very slowly, and living standards have flatlined or even declined for the middle and working classes. Many Americans have a feeling that things aren’t going in the right direction or that the country has lost its societal health and vigor, but aren’t sure how to describe or measure the problem. We need broader metrics of national prosperity and vitality, including measures of noneconomic values like family stability or social trust.

There are many different criteria for national vitality. First, is the country guarded against foreign aggression and at peace with itself? Are people secure in their homes, free from government harassment, and safe from violent crime? Is prosperity broadly shared? Can the average person get a good job, buy a house, and support a family without doing anything extraordinary? Are families growing? Are people generally healthy, and is life span increasing or at least not decreasing? Is social trust high? Do people have a sense of unity in a common destiny and purpose? Is there a high capacity for collective action? Are people happy?

We can sort quantifiable metrics of vitality into three main categories: social, economic, and political. There is a spiritual element too, which for my purposes falls under the social category. The social factors that can readily be measured include things like age at first marriage (an indicator of optimism about the future), median adult stature (is it rising or declining?), life expectancy, and prevalence of disease. Economic measures include real wage trends, wealth concentration, and social mobility. Political metrics relate to polarization and acts of political violence.

Read the rest here…

The Problem of Politicians With Little Skin-in-the-Game

“Most people don’t care what happens so long as it doesn’t happen to them.”

A classic story brings this out:

Rabbi Shalom Schwadron of Jerusalem tells of a “maaseh” that he was a part of. The story brings out how different one’s reaction is when he relates to someone’s suffering as contrasted with when he doesn’t.

A neighborhood boy was playing in front of the rabbi’s home. The child fell and received a bad cut. The little boy started screaming. Rabbi Schwadron ran out, put a towel around cut and carried the boy towards the home of a doctor who lived nearby.

An elderly lady saw him excitedly running carrying the child, and said “Don’t worry, G-d will help.” She thought it was one of Rabbi Schwadron’s children. When he got closer, she recognized that the screaming boy was none other than her own grandson. When she saw who the child was, she stopped saying a dispassionate, “Don’t worry,” and started frantically screaming, “My Mayer, My Mayer.” Several neighbors tried strenuously to calm her down.

Rabbi Schwadron noted that when it was someone else’s child one can dispassionately go through the motions and say, “Don’t worry, G-d will help.” Let it be G-d’s worry. When it’s one’s own child one screams frantically.

In the same spirit, check out the wry article we once wrote on Emuna\Bitachon over here.