Whatever happened to good old American can-do?

According to the most recent polls, more than 75 per cent of the American public believes the economy is in bad shape. All three remaining candidates for president are treating the economy as the biggest electoral issue… There is no denying that the current financial morass is deep and painful. But taking the long view, there is something both startling and disturbing about the gloom… In fact, looking back over the past century, it would be a stretch to rank the current problems as especially notable or dramatic. Something else is going on — namely a cultural rut of pessimism that is draining our collective energy… and eroding our position in the world. Right now we have an unemployment rate of 5 per cent and headline inflation topping 4 per cent . We have economic growth of 0.6 per cent, extremely low consumer confidence and weakening consumer spending… and of course a housing market that is showing declines in excess of 20 per cent…

These are hardly statistics to celebrate, but they are a far cry from the crises of the 20th century… Yet it bears remembering that barely 10 years ago the mood was almost diametrically opposite… That all came to an end in 2001; and yet the technological advances of the ’90s led to incredible innovations and wealth creation, especially around the world… Today, the economy and the American political system are seen in almost entirely negative terms, and in need of drastic reform. Perhaps it is a strength to be able to be so self-critical. But there is a fine line between self-criticism and self-excoriation.

Today, in China or in Dubai, you can feel the electric hum of activity, ambition and sheer optimism about the future. Certainly, some of that is naïve, but it is also a strength and a source of energy… The alternative to grime-encrusted lenses isn’t rose-tinted glasses, but more equanimity about our weaknesses and our strengths would surely help us navigate. Unfortunately, the problem with downward spirals is, well, that they spiral downward. There is little evidence just now that we are about to break this cycle, and until we do, we will watch in awe, envy and fear as peoples throughout the world do what we used to do so well.

Excerpted from Zachary Karabell’s ‘Who Stole the American Spirit?’ in The Wall Street Journal