Six-Chart Sunday – On the Bright Side

6 Good News Infographics + 1 Video (Top 5 "America the Beautiful" renditions)

It’s a holiday weekend, so I’m only sharing positive charts today. Income’s up, crime’s down, AI’s boosting productivity. (2 min read, send to friends in search of good news!)

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1. “The middle class is shrinking because people are getting too rich to remain middle class.” (h/t Barry Ritholtz)

2. “Violent crime is falling rapidly across America.” (The Economist)

3. 2025 has seen “the biggest gain in blue collar pay during the first five months of a presidential administration since 1969.” (U.S. Treasury Dept.)

4. “On average, workers are 33% more productive in each hour that they use generative AI.” (Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, Vanderbilt & Harvard universities).

5. “Drug deaths plummet among young Americans as fentanyl carnage eases” (though it’s still way too high). (CDC per NPR)

6. Americans have continued reducing household debt since the global financial crisis. (FT)

UPCOMING live book talk 7/14 at 4pm ET: Apple in China with Patrick McGee = amazing read! Register here.

VIDEO

“America the Beautiful” was originally a poem written by Wellesley College English professor Katharine Lee Bates, inspired by what she saw on an 1893 train trip west to teach in Colorado. The music was composed by choirmaster and organist Samuel A. Ward from the Grace Episcopal Church in Newark, NJ, and first paired with Bates’ poem in 1910. An American classic was born. But who sang it best? My top five: (#5) Mariah Carey (NBA finals), (#4) Elvis, (#3) Kelly Clarkson, (#2) Aretha Franklin (WWE III), and (#1): Ray Charles (2001 World Series):