Many people want you to believe that the world is in worse shape than ever. They assert that wages are stagnant, inequality is growing and the earth is heating up. But for the vast majority of humanity, things have never been better.

Racism, sexism, and homophobia are at their lowest rates in history.

We have more and better food than kings and queens could have dreamt of in the 18th century.

We have access to clean water, indoor plumbing, effective healthcare, and technology that even billionaires couldn’t have gotten just 20 years ago (the technology, not the plumbing).

So why the hell is everyone so freaked out all the time about the decline of civilization? In his new book Comparonomics, Grant Ryan shares a very simple tool to evaluate how the most important aspects of our lives have changed over the past 50 and 250 years, respectively. He also explores our innate biases that lead us to both respond to bad news and spread it around like the virus it is.  Grant spoke to me from his home in New Zealand.  Learn more about Comparonomicshere. YOU really should rate and review Crazy Money here.  YOU should also follow Paul on Instagram. He’s funny.