Over the weekend, the New York Post reported on the continued decline of violent crime in New York City. In 1993, the Upper East Side (a prosperous section of Manhattan long considered one of the safest parts of New York, even during the city's troubled decades) experienced 1,708 violent crimes. Today, only one police precinct in New York covers a neighborhood as violent as that: East New York, in Brooklyn.
It's just one reminder that, even as the U.S. struggles with rising income inequality, persistent unemployment and low wage growth, many other social indicators continue to improve, which is a sign that our public policies are actually pretty good.
