Taking the temperature of the mood of our country is tricky business, but it seems to us here at VVP that, in general, the mood out there could be characterized as “anxious”. Two presidential candidates, both born in the 1940s, with one of the lowest approval ratings in history, two wars, worries over inflation and the economy, it may be tough to pinpoint the source of our collective anxiety. Not to dismiss any of this, we share these worries, but we are also on the lookout for the antidote for some of the anxiety. And we found it in a recent Wall Street Journal article by Andy Kessler titled “Beating American Defeatism”. The conclusion…the United States still rules!

Here are some excerpts from the piece.

• Technology is the driver of global growth. Six U.S.-based companies are worth more than $1 trillion.
• US stocks make up about 70% of the MSCI World Index (a measure of all the publicly traded stocks in the world). The US enables innovation (one of our core beliefs here at VVP).
• The US dollar is still and will remain the reserve currency of the world. In the Kessler article he opines “try visiting Costa Rica with Chinese renminbi…or bitcoin.
• The US is oil independent, thanks to horizontal fracking.
• We lead the world in pharmaceuticals.
• We have the best weapons and military.
• Our television shows and movies are worldwide hits.
• We outproduce the world.  From 2010 to 2023, the cumulative economic growth in the US was 34% versus 21% for the European Union.

He further writes that democracy enables capitalism and is a magnet for capital. National socialism, fascism, communism, and even lighter forms of Marxism have all failed. Socialism is on its last legs in India and much of Europe. China now ranks 72^nd in the world in purchasing power per capita at $21,476, right behind Mexico. The U.S. was eighth at $76,399.

Our country has plenty of work to do, and the collective anxiety will likely remain, but the facts remain: the U.S. is still the shining city on the hill.

Happy 248^th (belated) birthday, America!

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