by Peter A. Arthur-Smith

“The gap between Americans’ prosperity and quality of life has grown since the 1990s, while satisfaction and security eludes many,” New York Times Business article by David Leonhardt, February, 2025

Total US GDP at $24.7 trillion was way ahead of 37 other countries, as depicted in this article, other than China. Even there, where China has a population three times larger, it is only running at around $5 trillion ahead. So, it still begs the question that with the US economy doing so well, why are the spirit and well-being factors of the US population falling further and further behind, while its economic growth seems so stellar?

Out of the nineteen different charts accompanying the article, which compared the US with other key economies, there were only four showing the US with a positive advantage, namely: total GDP, productivity, voter participation, and belief in democracy. These and all the other fifteen factors were put together by a politically diverse group of scholars, who have advised all past US Presidents since Bill Clinton and currently work at many top US think tanks. A small number of the remaining fifteen charts were almost flat, while the majority fell considerably behind other countries. Big US differentiators were employment prospects, suicide rate, social isolation, life satisfaction, trust in government, life expectancy, and prevalence of depression. The comparisons were tracked on an annual basis since the 1990s.

From my perspective, these less than stellar sentiments are also a reflection of three factors not mentioned in the quoted article, namely: a seeming world leadership crisis, tension and uneasiness surrounding an imminent third world war threat, and apparent either constant compliance or divisiveness driven by our current media. In the case of one-party countries, like China, Russia, Iran and North Korea, there are only compliant, state-run media entities. In other supposed more democratic countries, like the US, UK, Canada, Australia and the European Union, one draws the feeling that the media has grown more vicious, divisive and politically partisan. Too often political leaders have become more narcissistic in order to handle the media storm – that is, they don’t care about public opinion – since they’re more interested in raw power and influence rather than winning the hearts and minds of their fellow citizens.

There are many flash points in the world today – Taiwan, Ukraine, the Middle East, Pakistan-India and so forth – where related, narcissistic leaders seem politically insensitive toward their constituents’ wishes. They readily exploit their people’s fears and insecurities to remain in power…egged on by either a supportive or biased media. Narcissists invariably attract a band of sycophants around them to keep their populations in line and squelch opposition, especially where they reach the virtual dictatorship end of the spectrum.

And so we return to the current media stance; again not mentioned in the quoted article about societal sentiment as running behind a more promising economic outlook. It’s hardly surprising that we should expect the media not to comment on itself…for better or for worse. Today we have a diverse, cacophony of media voices brought about by our electronic age and those voices are increasingly partisan. Too many of them, more often than not, are a one-way channel where they just spout their political view and not listen overly much to their audience. Such raw behavior can have a debilitating effect on society over time, coupled with narcissists who largely listen to themselves. When you feel that you’re not being listened to, coupled with your various economic, financial, relationship and work-related woes, you may give up in despair.

In the US, the political media seems to generally fall into Democrat or Republican factions, so much so that their divisive sentiments undermine any likelihood of unity. Each side viciously stirs the pot so vigorously that there’s no hope of a national unified spirit. Each side is hard put to find any redeeming features in their counterpart’s point of view. In fact, finding fault with each other sells newspapers, journals and talk shows, to the point where the other faction is a virtual enemy. Such a dog eat dog approach in a supposed more educated society can only lead to alienation, distrust and unhappiness…what’s wrong with us rather than what’s right with America.

The last two times Americans appeared unified was during WWII and the 9/11 attack. At those moments, political opponents and media followers often buried the hatchet to beat back their country’s enemies. Ironically, when you hear political sides trash each other every day during normal times, tomorrow they could find themselves fighting side-by-side to beat back an external enemy at moments of crisis.

What is the answer? It’s perfectly okay for people to debate their differences, although, at the end of the day, there has to be a meeting of the minds in order for everyone to move forward. Such behavior is normally quite possible with effective or enlightened leaders; otherwise their teams or ventures will flounder. Ergo, the same follows with a semblance of national unity, where we need more mature political and media leaders who know when to call a truce for the betterment of everyone. It’s all about leadership.