Nov. 13, 2015

 

Dear Hildie:

 

I’m reading Angus Deaton’s latest book. Actually, I got it before he was awarded the Nobel, so I decided I probably ought to finish it. I’m just in the first part, but he points to a lot of problems with correlating “happiness” with wealth. I think where he’s going is to show that on the whole, and despite news reports and graphic images, the world’s a lot better off now than it was 100 years ago. He makes the wry comment that, whereas the Constitution enshrines “the pursuit of happiness” for Americans, anyone in the Calvinist Scottish village where he grew up would consider that a character flaw! An abject lesson to ethnocentric dummies like George Bush, who assume that what he feels right must be what everybody else the world over thinks is right.

 

Well, on to such work as there is.

Take care.

 

Love,

M