Americans are feeling just fine in 1999, thank you very much.
Optimism about life in general, not just the stock market, is at historic fever pitch. A
recent NBC-Wall Street Journal poll reports that 73% of Americans thought the economy was
"good or excellent." Sixty-nine percent said they were better off than they were
four years ago.
By definition, things always look worst and darkest at the bottom and best and
brightest at the top. When people say, "It just doesn’t get any better than
this," they’re right. When things look so bad that they can’t get any
worse, they can’t.
Most Americans live sheltered lives, isolated from the underlying social, economic, and
political conflicts that permeate the day-to-day existence of the rest of the world. The
official US government-defined "poverty level" of about $14,000 a year for a
family of four is a life of luxury for the vast majority of people on the planet.
As we’ve discussed throughout 1998 (check the archives),
the rest of the world is not a happy place, to say the least. In particular, the
disintegration of Russia is perhaps the most significant event of the decade. We’ve
only just begun to see the fallout.
The Cold War may be over, but there sure are a lot of pots and tempers boiling over
around the world. The National Defense Council Foundation reported last week there are
some 60 ongoing "violent" conflicts around the world.
There are 200 or so countries on the planet, depending on how you define a country.
Nearly one third of the world is in hostilities with one or more neighbors, in a state of
outright civil war, or defending itself against guerrilla insurgency. Of course most of
these skirmishes are small and not worthy of front-page mention. But when you look at the
big picture, most of Africa, much of the Middle East and the Far East, as well as
significant parts of South America and even Europe are at each other’s throats. No
wonder Democrat William Jefferson Clinton has proposed an additional
$100 billion in defense spending over the next six years. Rodney "Why can’t we
all just get along" King, where are you when the world needs you?
