If you did nothing but look at newspaper headlines over the past year, you could be forgiven for feeling a little less thankful than usual this holiday season.
More Americans are out of work than at any time in a generation. Our military machine is mired in two endless wars. And Washington's political class seems overmatched by the historic challenges before it. Democrats were fired from their jobs in Congress a few years after Republicans got their pink slips from voters. Meanwhile, approval ratings for Congress and both parties have plummeted to all-time lows.
Given that grim backdrop, it's fair to ask why anyone should be grateful for the state that America finds itself in this holiday season. Notwithstanding apocalyptic forecasts from both political extremes, the fact is that America remains a richly blessed nation.
Despite two years of bleak forecasts and doomsday scenarios, the United States is still the most powerful economy in the world. We've been No. 1 for more than a century, and that's not going to change anytime soon.
The United States remains the center of the world in the areas of technology and innovation. We produce 20 percent of the world's gross domestic product, run the planet's largest stock exchange and hold its biggest gold reserves. America has won more than 260 Nobel prizes and has long dominated in the field of science. Japan hasn't even cracked double digits in Nobel prizes awarded, and the only time Chinese nationals won the award is after staging a human-rights struggle against their own government.
In an age of science and technology, maybe that explains why 150 of the world's top companies are based in the United States. That's more than twice the number of our nearest competitor.
The U.S. dollar is still the world's currency, with the greenback accounting for 50 percent of the globe's cash reserves. The European Union's euro is second by a mile.
For all the whimpering about how investment is leaving America, more invest in the United States economy than in any other country. Our closest competitor doesn't get half the money for economic investment in its country as America does here at home.
Read more:
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1110/...
Posted By: DAVID JOHNSON
Tuesday, December 21st 2010 at 6:17PM
You can also
click
here to view all posts by this author...
