I have often looked at that picture behind the President without being able to tell whether it was rising or setting. But now at length I have the happiness to know that it is a rising and not a setting sun – Ben Franklin from the Constitutional Convention (Philadelphia 1787).
Since its founding, people have questioned whether America was ascending or declining. Today, America faces challenges and conflicts, as we always have. While broad measures of economic growth may not capture all the nuances of the wellbeing of a country’s people, the data supports the view that the optimists, like Franklin, have been correct about America’s economic trajectory.
There are many factors that have contributed to America’s economic success story: a legal system that protects capital, reserve currency status, liquid capital markets, and the research university system. But perhaps the most important American attribute behind this success is self-determination; the United States attracts and retains people who innovate, invent, and work hard more successfully than any other nation.