-
The Politicization Crusade
May 8, 2013 | 56 comments
-
Deceiver in Chief
March 20, 2013 | 204 comments
-
Chronicle of Liberal Disasters
February 25, 2013 | 70 comments
-
President Obama’s Minimum Wage Delusion
February 14, 2013 | 203 comments
-
The Democrats’ Rough Re-entry Into Reality
October 19, 2012 | 148 comments
A Further Perspective
Another Reason for Giving Thanks
Back in 1900 life expectancy in the U.S. was below 50.
You probably don’t need another reason to be thankful, but just in case, here’s a suggestion. It’s a reason that’s buried in a well-known statistic.
Life expectancy in the U.S. in 1900 was 49 years. By 2000 it had increased to 78 years. That’s obviously good news, but it’s even better than you might realize.
Our sixty percent increase in longevity is primarily the result of a dramatic decrease in premature deaths, especially a decrease in childhood deaths. It isn’t because everyone in 1900 died upon reaching 47 and everyone is now dying when he or she reaches 78.
When my daughter was eight years old she developed appendicitis, a very common ailment. At 2AM my wife took her to the emergency room and within two hours she had had an appendectomy. In about two weeks she was good as new.
Up until about a hundred years ago appendicitis was fatal in almost every instance. What happened to Harry Houdini in 1926 was the usual outcome of appendicitis without surgery. His appendix ruptured, he developed peritonitis, and died at the age of 52.
What is now a routine and very treatable health issue was essentially a death sentence. Can you imagine how much grief resulted from that one common ailment? The fact that we now have the ability to prevent or minimize that kind of tragedy and suffering is a blessing of modern life that is often taken for granted.
Of course, we still are unable to assure that all children live to adulthood and then to a ripe old age. Nevertheless, the strides we have made are profoundly significant.
When we see a news report of a child or young adult dying for whatever reason it pains our hearts to think about his or her parents, friends, and other relatives. There is no pain as deep and long-lasting as the pain of loss. Although the grief resulting from premature death is still a fact of life, it is far less common than it was for our ancestors.
If you know details of your family tree even a few generations back you’ve probably seen instances of your forefathers having, for example, eight children with only five surviving to adulthood. Having to bury three of your children had to have been incredibly painful. Unfortunately, it was relatively common. Our ancestors must have been made of sterner stuff than I am.
The leading causes of death in 1900 were pneumonia, tuberculosis, and diarrhea. None of those are today even in the top ten leading causes of death.
The life expectancy increase is not only because of medical progress. For example, the number of non-vehicular accidental deaths (per 100,000 population) declined more than 75 percent between 1900 and 2000. Since 1940 auto fatalities per vehicle mile have decreased more than 85 percent.
We are incredibly fortunate to be living when we are. The benefits of modern living go far beyond high-definition TVs and smart phones. (Although those are pretty cool.) The kinds of events that cause the worst human suffering have been dramatically reduced. We have much to be thankful for. Happy Thanksgiving!
About the Author
Ron Ross Ph.D. is an economist who lives in Arcata, California. He is the author of The Unbeatable Market. Reach him at rossecon@gmail.com.
Letter to the Editor View all comments (25) | Leave a comment
More Articles by Ron Ross
More Articles From A Further Perspective
http://spectator.org/archives/2011/11/23/another-reason-for-giving-than
Follow us:
ADVERTISEMENT
Current Issue
- Once Upon a Time in the West
- Current Wisdom
- There’s Something About Cambridge
SPONSORED LINKS
FLASHBACK TO: 1995
-
Pope Culture
A man of faith in a godless age is hitting Americans where it hurts.
-
Why the GOP Does Not, Like, Totally Suck
Mr. and Mrs. American Spectator Reader, let P.J. O’Rourke talk sense to your kids.
-
Dames at Sea
-
In the Absence of Guns
In Britain, defending your property can get you life.
-
The Metaphysical Martini
-
Counting the Costs of Clintonism
The debacle of this president’s administration is both a cause and a symptom of the decline of American values. Unless Congress impeaches him, that decline will go on unchecked. An eminent jurist surveys the damage and assesses the chances for the recovery of our culture.
-
Chuck McHagel
It won’t take long for conservatives to scratch this presidential wannabe off their 2008 scorecard.
-
The Legacy of Old John and Mother Fresh-Roasted
-
It’s the Best Time of the Year
The American Christmas, like the songs that celebrate it, makes room for everybody under the rainbow. Is that why so many people seem to be hostile to it?
-
The Bush Crack-Up
Was the President done in by the economy, or by the politics of the economy?
Clip of the Day
ADVERTISEMENT
Bill Hussein O'Stalin| 11.23.11 @ 7:08AM
You're right.
I had cancer in the 80's. Even 50 years ago it would have been the end. As it was, the doctors told me I had a 50/50 chance to make it which meant I had no chance.
I sold everything I could within a week and had several operations. The medical bills were huge but my greatest successes came afterwards.
Yes, our medical community has made great strides over the last 150 years. One can only wonder how Obamacare will destory it.
KyMouse| 11.23.11 @ 12:08PM
A friend of mine has a small family cemetery on her farm, left by Victorian owners. There are the graves of the father and two wives, both of whom he outlived.
There are also the graves of five children, all of whom died in early childhood except for one -- he lived to be 21 and was killed in the battle at Chickamauga.
Ken (Old Texican)| 11.23.11 @ 8:53AM
Doctor Ross,
I’ve found that counting my blessings, from The Lord, to start each day…is a blessing.
Thanks for the article.
Margie| 11.29.11 @ 1:32AM
Liars will get to count their blessing in Hell where they will be going... unless they repent.
Where's that "evidence" you claimed to have in the form of e mails, Ken~ to the effect that I, according to you, wanted to cheat on my husband?
Do you really believe you will be able to get away with this false charge?
Do you not believe the Scriptures when God says that He will throw you into Hell for bearing false witness against me?
How can you say you count your blessings when you have sought to destroy me here publicly?
"He who speaks the truth gives honest evidence, but a false witness utters deceit." Prov. 12:17.
S. Bloomdahl| 11.23.11 @ 9:18AM
The average age was so low because of a high infant mortality rate. Your premise is completely wrong.
dennis2j| 11.23.11 @ 10:31AM
"Our sixty percent increase in longevity is primarily the result of a dramatic decrease in premature deaths, especially a decrease in childhood deaths." What am I missing here?
Silver Bullet| 11.23.11 @ 4:40PM
Take just ONE baby dying at age 6 months -- a very common phenomenon in 1900. How many adults must live to, say, 70 years of age to raise the average life expectancy at birth to 49 years? Do the math. And consider that most adults 100 years ago didn't live past about 70.....
The interesting statistic to compare would be the average life expectancy for a healthy adult at age 21 years. If I recall correctly, there is, in year 2011, roughly a 20% chance that 1/5th of such adults are going to die by age 65. What would the comparable number have been in year 1900? Perhaps the author could reply and let us know. I'm sure that any life insurance agent could give the answer -- any of you agents out there in cyber-space? Can you help out?
Seek| 11.23.11 @ 11:42AM
Young women also were more apt to die in childbirth, thus pushing down the average further.
Brubaker| 11.23.11 @ 2:08PM
Dr. Ross made precisely that point. Perhaps you should read the article before criticizing.
Brendan| 11.23.11 @ 9:25AM
My daughter had pneumonia at 3. I had to fight with the doctors to force them to test for it (she has the flu!). And I belong to a high end medical group. Yes, I have often thought that without our modern medical technology my little girl would be gone. But I have had to deal with enough doctors who have been incompetent that I have no doubt that we must each be the first and best proponents for our own and our families health. I hate to say it, but google is our friend, but I am happy to say that the ipad will be our future doctor.
c. j. acworth| 11.23.11 @ 9:33AM
My father contracted polio at the age of eight. He spent 1932 in an iron lung, and when he came out he had a twisted spine and a right arm that was atrophied and useless. Fast forward to 1955 when I was born, the year in which the Salk vaccine became available. No longer did parents have to dread the coming of summer, and the outbreaks of a frightening disease that would kill or cripple their children.
Of course, there are those who see all this as a curse, because it leads to "unsustainable population growth" and a "Malthusian trap". We humans are a virus infecting and corrupting Mother Earth don't you know. Back to the Pliestocene!
henry| 11.23.11 @ 9:48AM
I hope the good days stay. In my opinion the three biggest threats facing the medical profession are punitive litigation, government meddling and big business in the form of managed healthcare.
Factor in the rise of superbugs like the NDM-! From India and we might be looking at the end of the antibiotic age. The old enemies haven’t gone away: they’re just lying low, waiting for their moment.
Petronius| 11.23.11 @ 10:39AM
Here, here. But we're still waiting for the cure for stupidity.
SusieQ| 11.23.11 @ 11:00AM
I always marvel at those naive enough to wish they had lived "way back when in the good old days." If they were magically transported to that seemingly "more innocent" time, they would not last 5 minutes before they would be screaming for return to the twenty first century.
Nick| 11.26.11 @ 2:35PM
SusieQ,
I second everything that you wrote!
And, it goes double for those dirty, smelly, raping, hippie protesters, who believe corporations have destroyed the planet.
This began in the 1960's, I believe, when the left started romanticizing the bronze-age existence of the American indians. Of course, they ignored the barbarism of those savages.
It's these same Luddites who ironically claim that it is the conservatives who "ignore science" when it comes to AGW. As you stated, these same tree-huggers would succumb to the living conditions of our forefathers.
DTOM| 11.23.11 @ 1:08PM
I would gladly take a second chance on the '50's and the '60's. Wouldn't you? I wouldn't miss all this for a new york minute.
Margie| 11.23.11 @ 2:53PM
I'm thankful to God for the Christian Reformers, and those who escaped the Religionists to come to America to practice Christianity according to the Scriptures.
God bless America!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v.....r_embedded
Clint| 11.26.11 @ 7:19PM
Catholicism was introduced to the English colonies with the founding of the Province of Maryland by Jesuit settlers from England in 1634.
Margie| 11.26.11 @ 9:51PM
So? Catholicism isn't Christianity, it's a cult. One that put to death millions of my Christian brethren for the sole reason that they rejected it's false and unbiblical teachings.
In fact, they came here to escape the murderous Papists, who didn't permit the reading of the Scriptures for themselves. They came here to serve Jesus Christ according to the Scriptures, as is God's Will.
Catholicism is just as much a cult now as it was then. And still as hateful against Bible believing Christians.
And YOU are a prime example of that.
Papist Da| 11.27.11 @ 6:19PM
Bigot Margie,
You are the member of a cult of one, maybe two, that believes in anabaptism of polygamy and wife sharing. And your are lecturing us on Christianity?
There are over one billion Catholics and one of you in your crazy cult. Get a life, bigot, and see a shrink.
Margie| 11.29.11 @ 1:27AM
Lying Papist Idolator:
The anabptists were not a cult and you lie concerning them, in order to do what despicable Papists are wont to do, and that is to try and paint anyone who isn't an idolator Pope worshipper to look stupid, or dull or perverse~ when it is YOU and your perverted fellows that are the perverts who tortured and killed those anabaptist Christians for the "crime" of rejecting the Catholic Religion's false teaching of infant baptism!
Ah yes, history itself can never be erased, though you are a living, walking example of those who till try and erase the bloody truth of your cult.
And you will burn in Hell with them, as God throws liars into Hell~ for I am not in any cult but belong to the Body of Christ as do all of my Christian brethren who believe the Scriptures and forsake your Apostate Religion.
Repent, lying Troll~ you bear false witness not only of the dead~ but of the living!
"But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the polluted, as for murderers, fornicators, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their lot shall be in the lake that burns with fire and sulphur, which is the second death." Rv. 21:8.
Appleby| 11.23.11 @ 9:36PM
Effective drugs didnt really exist until the Korean War gave us sulfanilomides.
I remember reading Louisa May Alcotts book *Eight Cousins* and being astonished that two elderly maiden aunts were in their fifties
POST American| 11.24.11 @ 3:13AM
WE don't know where the writer's getting
his sense of the real, but the FACT IS, cancers,
allergies, diabetes and scores of bizarre,
hitherto all but unknown, neurological
disorders------are skyrocketing.
And, of course, there's that trifling matter
of over 50 MILLION -uh- 'intercepted'
unborn.
Finally, latest surveys alert those who are
capable of being alerted that fewer than 3 in
20 of up and coming males are even functionally
fertile.
REALLY, take in the WHOLE picture.
JimG33 | 11.24.11 @ 4:10PM
I'm 64, and had to quit woodworking (my job) and Rollerblading ( my hobby) because of chronic medical conditions, the kind that would have been a wasting sickness in the 1960's. Without the kind of medicine we have today I wouldn't be here typing this post. Please don't fall prey to medical conspiracy theories.
POST American| 11.24.11 @ 5:29PM
-----The 'CON-spiracies' happen to be
nothing more than X-posed 'age-endas'.
Weaponized food, water, air and meds
are part of every major white paper on
population extermination, r, we meant 'easing',
for the coming century (Holdren's ECO-science/ Agenda 21/ foundation docs etc.).
Many of the chronic condidtions we're facing
can, IN FACT, be sourced to injections,
flourides and contaminants in the water,
and the laughably obvious deployment
of cancer engendering, organ and fertility
destroying, honeybee annihilating,
GMO foods.
"Understand, when the honey bees
start dying, the people themselves will be finished."
-H G Wells
1940
Remember, over 90% of the medical
establishment is, and has long been,
controlled outright by the stealth
forces of Rockefeller EUGENICS.
Toss in the fact that it's working,
almost entirely unmonitored from
outside, in frank and open collusion
with the MOST awesomely genocidal
regime mankind's EVER seen, across
the Pacific, and even Prozak sotted
morons begin to get the picture.
As we learn just yesterday, 250, 000
private farmers have committed suicide
in India over the past decade or so
---as GMO consolidation, spearheaded
by the ROT-child family, moves ahead
unchecked , UH---------------------
this is the 11th hour.
REALLY