At this time every year, Americans spend a day “giving thanks” for their many blessings. Rightly so. The New York Times recently published an editorial that said that “In many ways, there has never been a better time to be alive.” The article acknowledged that, while there are certainly still many problems in the world, today “fewer among us are poor, fewer are hungry, fewer children are dying, and more men and women can read than ever before. In many countries, recognition of women’s and minority rights is now the norm. There is still much work to do, of course, but there is hope and there is progress.”
The article goes on to observe how people in struggling and violent parts of the world want to immigrate to richer, more peaceful nations such as the U.S. That’s understandable. Indeed, the U.S. has one of the lowest unemployment rates in the world amongst capitalist countries. The Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the U.S. ranks 9th in the world. And when the United Nations combined physical capital (machinery, buildings, infrastructure and so on), human capital (the population’s education and skills), and natural capital (including land, forests, fossil fuels and minerals), the U.S. ranked #1 as the richest nation on earth.
And yet, a Gallup poll this year showed that 71% of Americans were dissatisfied with the U.S. economy and 8 out of 10 felt the country was going in the wrong direction. Those who live in the safest, most prosperous country on earth were feeling great uneasiness, bordering on hopelessness. Why such anger and discontent in the world’s most affluent country? What might account for the huge disconnect between America’s prosperity and the dissatisfaction most Americans feel? Perhaps it’s a matter of gratitude? Continue reading
