How are we doing in the Western world? Clearly there is more than one viewpoint: Some scenarios are fairly rosy and others pretty gloomy. Which is the closest to the truth? Moreover, are people overlooking the most important judgment factor?
by John Ross Schroeder
A recent feature article in a major American newsweekly stated: "Things are better than you think... In 2005, as in 2004, the world economy grew by about 5 percent, according to the International Monetary Fund, and the IMF projects similar growth for several years to come...The great engine of this growth is, of course, the United States, which produces more than one fifth of world economic product and whose gross domestic product has been growing at around 4 percent—4.8 percent in the latest quarter" (Michael Barone, "Heard the Good News?" U.S. News and World Report, May 29, 2006, emphasis added throughout).
Of course, several other major economies are growing as well, a few at even greater rates than the American economy is.
Still, President George Bush underscored American economic achievements, saying, "This economy is powerful, productive and prosperous."
The author of the first article also pointed out that, overall, genocides and wars have decreased rapidly since the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, and he listed all the changes that benchmark incident produced. Violent conflicts in particular have apparently dropped by 40 percent since 1992. The writer concluded, "In most important respects, our [Western] civilization is performing splendidly."
But is this an accurate portrayal of what is happening to the United States in particular and the Western world in general?
A much gloomier picture
Curiously, the very next feature article in the same issue starkly presented the flip side of the coin! Its author stated, "Sadly, Katrina has become a metaphor for the nation, a symbol of what can happen when challenges to our well-being gain force, and we fail to address them" (David Gergen, "The Danger of Drift," U.S. News and World Report, May 29, 2006).
