‘I think the magic is over.” That’s what French foreign minister Bernard Kouchner recently said about the United States’ global reputation.
It’s never been a great idea to rely on the assessments of French politicians, but the daily news coming out of the U.S. — in terms of our image overseas and beyond — does indeed seem bleak.
Oil has climbed over $100 a barrel. Gas is nearing $4 a gallon. Gold is at $1,000 an ounce — a telltale sign the public is losing trust in paper money, stocks, and bonds.
Housing prices still slump. Foreclosures are on the rise. The huge Wall Street firm Bear Stearns nearly collapsed before being bought out for a fraction of its former worth.
Seven years ago, the Euro was worth about 90 cents. Now it’s soared past $1.50. Staples like wheat and corn cost more than at anytime in our history. Foreign creditors hold $12 trillion in U.S. government securities, the result of decades of staggering trade deficits.
We are still fighting to secure constitutional governments in Afghanistan and Iraq. Iran, contrary to headlines drawn from the recent National Intelligence Estimate, is likely still betting the U.S. can’t prevent it from getting the bomb.
No one knows how many illegal aliens are in the United States — 11? 15? 18 million? — only that we can neither go on with open borders nor apparently close them.
Only a third of the public approves of the Bush administration. The ratings of Congress are even lower.
Our self-proclaimed reformers turn out to have feet of clay. New York governor Eliot Spitzer made a career of taking on Wall Street greed — in between spending laundered money on high-priced call girls.
Sen. Barack Obama promised a new politics of racial healing and political honesty. Yet despite eloquent speeches, he still cannot adequately explain why for 20 years he attended and subsidized a church whose fiery preacher spewed the worst sort of racial hatred and divisiveness.
So, is the “magic over”?
Not quite yet. The remedies for our current maladies require a moderate curbing of our extravagant lifestyle and voracious consumption. Given the vast size of the U.S. economy, we could easily restrain spending and begin paying off our debts at a rapid clip. Inflation and unemployment are still relatively low.
Over 94 percent of Americans with home mortgages meet their monthly obligations. More Americans own homes than ever before. More immigrants seek out America than any other nation.
We have not been hit by terrorists in over six years. And, slowly, both Afghanistan and Iraq are showing political progress and declining violence, despite recent suicide bombings.
In a relative sense, our problems pale in comparison to our past world wars and depressions, or those of our current competitors.
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