Global Progress

For John, BLUF:  Life is getting better for more people around the Globe.

From political speech writer Michael Cohen♠ we have an upbeat view of the world.  Writing in The Manchester Guardian this weekend, he asks "The best of all possible worlds?".  His response to the question is "Not yet, but as a UN report proves, we're making global progress.  The other good news is that government really works".  As to that last part, he is a Democratic Party operative.  From the article, the lede and following paragraph:

A bloody civil war in Syria, renewed violence in Iraq, economic uncertainty in Cyprus, brinkmanship on the Korean peninsula – it seems that every day brings with it a fresh new tale of woe from around the world.  At the same time, government officials tell us constantly the world is a place of great danger and potential dangers and politicians inflate threats and the risk they pose to the United States.

But guess what?  You can turn that frown upside down, because for all the seemingly bad news around the world, we are actually living in a golden age of global development.  Today, millions of people around the world are living longer, healthier, freer, safer and more prosperous lives than ever before in human history – and we have the data to prove it.

Our personal and collective choices matter.  The article is worth the read to get a better feel for the situation.

Regards  —  Cliff

♠  "Speechboy" does tweets as https://twitter.com/speechboy71.