This article was written by Dr. Terry Paulson CSP CPAE, national vice president of National Speakers Association. We felt it had a great deal to say, and reprint it here without comment.

Edward Yardeni, chief economist for Deutsche Morgan Grenfell, helps us see ourselves in a challenging but positive light: "Americans are prospering today because they are adapting to the competitive forces unleashed globally by the end of the Cold War and domestically by industrial deregulation. American business has met increased competition by restructuring. Job security is no longer provided by unions or politicians, or through violent protests. Americans understand this. Europeans don’t. So we have job insecurity and lots of jobs, while Europeans have job security if they have jobs – unemployment rates are greater than 10% in France and Germany. You want security? Go to Europe. You want a job? The US is the land for you."

What has saved us in America is that we woke up quickly to the enticing destruction of entitlement thinking in a world struggling to face the speed of change and global competition. No matter what happens with the UPS strike (Ed: written in August 1997), the unions will never match their old power. America has a cultural advantage; at its core it does not support entitlement or victim thinking. Americans believe in the power of an individual’s dream. Big companies are decreasing in size and influence, small flexible businesses are exploding, and Americans have no patience for waiting for Washington or unions to fight their battles. Give us an obstacle, and we will overcome it. That mentality fits the playing field we face. America is only 4% of the world’s population, and rather than protecting ourselves from the other 96%, America has realized the opportunity we have to grow our economy and our small and big companies if we serve that market. That is where the action is and American companies are streamlined and restructured to go where the action is and win. Are you doing your part to join the challenge?