Every year on the 4th of July – for the last 20+ years – the Kleis and Dorr families have gathered in northern Iowa to celebrate Independence Day. It is a family tradition that is shared by millions of Americans this week.
The culmination of the day is a community fireworks display that has – for many, many years – had the same accompanying soundtrack on a local radio station.
That soundtrack features patriotic music and clips from famous speeches made by American Presidents (Republican and Democrat alike).
As the fireworks fade into the evening, there is a familiar sense of pride as we think about the wonderful freedoms our country provides and the sacrifices so many have made to preserve them.
But when we go back to work – and turn on our TVs – on July 5th, we will once again be greeted with the familiar doom and gloom our country is wracked with today. “A recession is coming!” “Our country is collapsing!” “Republicans are evil!” “Democrats are ruining the nation!” “Biden is crazy!” “Trump is crazy!” Blah, blah, blah. It is downright depressing.
No doubt many of you reading this believe some – or maybe all! – of the comments above. And you may be right. We cannot fix the political discourse in this country, or the media that thrives on creating angry factions. But we can bring you a little bit of 4th of July optimism:
Our economy is not failing. And America remains the greatest economic power in the world.
Read that again if you would. It is important for us all to remember. We spend so much time (admittedly on these very pages), hashing out all the things that are going wrong and all the things that must be fixed. And those things can be true while it also remains true that America is the greatest economic power in the world.
Take, for example, this chart showing the GDP per capita of the ten most populous countries in the world. The U.S. is the third most populous country (after China and India). The comparison on GDP per capita is not even close.
Past performance is not indicative of future results.
We have all heard by now that China is going to take over the world economy, right? Well look at their GDP compared to ours in the chart above. In the 30 years of data shown China’s GDP has grown $12,000 per person. It is remarkable growth. The U.S.? $20,000 per person. To provide the same value to their citizens that is provided here in the U.S. they would have to 4x their GDP per capita while ours remained flat. It may happen – but is unlikely for an exceptionally long time.
We can hear the naysayers right now: yeah, but that’s because wealth is highly concentrated in America. The richest have too much, and everyone else suffers. Not true. In fact, the U.S. has the fourth highest median income of any nation in the world – behind only the tiny populations in Luxembourg, Norway, and the UAE (ranked 169th, 119th, and 93rd by population). China comes in at #68.
Thomas Jefferson famously wrote in the Declaration of Independence about creating a “more perfect union”. There will forever be much to do to accomplish this goal and we will get back to worrying about all the problems with the world – and at home – on July 5th. But as you take some time to celebrate our Independence, just remember how blessed we truly are.
Happy Independence Day!
Sincerely,
