Economist Jeff Thredgold lists dozens of reasons to be happy about today's economy and society. Here are the first few. Read the whole list here.

-- U.S. exports to the world of goods and services are at record levels

-- A year-end 2007 Gallup Poll noted that “more than 8 in 10 Americans say they are satisfied with their personal lives at this time, including a solid majority who say they are ‘very satisfied.’”

-- During the early 1960s, the five-year survival rate from cancer for Americans was one in three. Today it is two in three…continuing to climb…and the highest in the world

-- For every dollar of U.S. economic output generated today, we burn less than half as much oil as 30 years ago

-- Today’s moms and dads, whether working or at home, are spending four to six hours more per week with their kids than did the previous generation

-- Alcohol-related traffic fatalities in the most recently reported year dropped by more than half versus 20 years ago