A lot of hoopla on the right about the FBI revising 2022 crime numbers higher. Here’s my take:
▪️According to these revised stats, violent crime did rise from ‘21-‘22, but then fell in ‘23, which many are leaving out. Violent crime is down from the ‘20 spike and the crime rate is actually near historic lows. Murders and murder rates also fell from ‘22-‘23, but are still elevated from the mid 2010s lows.
▪️It’s possible that future revisions could raise ‘23 violent crime numbers above ‘22 levels, which would indicate crime is trending worse. But until that happens it’s pure speculation, these are the numbers. Also, it’s highly doubtful that murders would be revised above ‘22 levels as it would require a massive upward revision, and you can look at many major cities’ stats showing murder has dropped.
▪️Generally, violent crime and murders were on a steady decline for decades until about the mid 2010s. Then, this progress was reversed when it spiked in 2020. Violent crime is down since then, but still hasn’t gotten back to the lows.
▪️Statistics don’t capture everything, and many rightly feel like crime is up in their areas. I like to use the example of stores locking up products. If stores are locking up things they didn’t 10 years ago, crime is up in your area, regardless of how many thefts are reported by police stats. Walk into a CVS in downtown Sacramento and there’s barely anything that isn’t locked up. You don’t need stats to tell you crime is high there.
So many of these right wing accounts are just whiners now, this is a diatribe about automatic sinks and towels, the horror! As I explained in a prior post, most of the newer terminals have great bathrooms, some now have completely private stalls and plenty of them. The worst and most crowded airport bathrooms are invariably found in aging terminals that are decades old. It’s a reminder that airports were usually drab and uncomfortable.
I think the heyday of the air hand-dryers was like 15-20 years ago, where often you couldn’t find real towels. Now you can at least usually get real paper towels in airport bathrooms. Remember those old cloth roller towels that would go in a loop and somehow “clean” themselves? Yuck! Public bathrooms have always been gross, it seems some are deliberately having selective memories.
Airport food and drinks were always expensive, but now practically everyone brings those huge cooler flasks with them and fills them up. So not sure what he means that ...
I first critiqued this terrible take by looking at how food has actually improved substantially. Even though I said the same could be done in every category, people said “you’re only doing food.” So let’s do air travel and see why it’s not gotten better, not worse.
▪️Aircraft have greatly improved. Just 15-20 years ago, many domestic routes (~15%) were flown by turboprops like the Brasilia, Dash 8 or Saab. Now, almost everything is in jets, and most aircraft have WiFi. Some even have Starlink, where you probably have faster WiFi than your home. Most major airlines offer dozens or hundreds of movies and shows to watch.
▪️Newer designs like the 787 have lower cabin altitudes and improved humidity, which make a huge difference in passenger comfort on long haul flights. The first/business class international market has gotten very competitive globally, with many carriers offering excellent service and amenities. Pods, suites, showers, etc. Coach still sucks but is dramatically cheaper ...
This is the complete opposite of an empirical fact. The right has now joined the left in being pessimistic about the modern world and completely unappreciative of the amazing abundance we now have. I’ll just focus on food here, but you could do it for almost every category.
▪️Fresh produce used to be available only in season. In the winter it was canned or frozen. People used to send fruit for Christmas gifts, it was that much of a luxury good. Now, you can get giant, sweet berries year around in every grocery store. Corn on the cob in February. Not to mention once rare items like dragon fruit, heirloom tomatoes or baby bok choy.
▪️If you didn’t live on the coast, seafood was either not available, frozen, or extremely expensive. If you lived in the Midwest and traveled to coastal locales you would quite literally be able to eat food you had never seen. Salmon has become much more abundant and accessible. You can get fresh ahi at Walmart today. Sushi and oyster bars exist everywhere ...
