Yeah, there's two ways to look at this: * The US is doing better than you might expect from an influential, powerful country, that could be abusing its power m

Yeah, there's two ways to look at this: * The US is doing better than you might expect from an influential, powerful country, that could be abusing its power much more (but that's how empires fall, and the US has learned from the lessons of history) * The US is doing worse than you might expect from a prosperous and stable country, one that doesn't need to be driven by desperation and genuine threats to survival