Six-Chart Sunday (#23) – God Bless the USA

6 Infographics from the week + 1 video (the great Mitch Daniels)

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Mid-way through Thursday’s Presidential debate, after briefly Googling nice homes for sale in New Zealand, I zoomed out to consider the bigger picture. It’s hard not to enter July 4th weekend thankful for our nation’s many blessings, even as we strive to form a more perfect union. Sure, we have a lot of challenges… but where else would you rather live? Here’s how the world votes with its feet:

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1. More people want to move here than anywhere else.

2. More people want to invest here than anywhere else. (Stock markets below, 2023 FDI here).

3. More people want to study here than anywhere else (Top 30 in chart by Russell Lim).

4. More people want to start businesses here than anywhere else. 

5. Innovators are more-empowered to invent here than nearly anywhere else.

6. We produce more medal-winning Olympic athletes than anywhere else (ready for Paris!)

Are we perfect? Of course not. America is also exceptional in bad ways including gun violence, obesity, deaths of despair, excessive incarceration, unaffordable healthcare, insufficient housing, lack of trust in institutions, income inequality, etc.

But this Independence Day I choose to focus on the glass half full & count our myriad blessings. We’ll find a way through... Americans always do. Happy 4th!

VIDEO

Few Americans are more exceptional than the great Mitch Daniels, former two-term Governor of Indiana (where he balanced the budget) & President of Purdue University (where he froze tuition for 10 years - it had increased every year since 1976 before his arrival — and safely reopened in the Fall of 2020 while COVID shut down most other colleges.)

UPCOMING LIVE EVENTS

• July 9, 4pm ET: The New Cold War, with Hal Brands & Noah Smith, register here

• July 11, 4pm ET: Reforming U.S. Politics - The Primary Solution, with Nick Troiano & Kent Thiry, register here