Westport Author Optimistic About U.S. Economy

Westporter Daniel Gross told a Westport Public Library audience tonight he is optimistic about the U.S. economy. A former editor at Newsweek, he wrote the “Contrary Indicator” column, which he now writes for Yahoo! Finance. A member of the library board, he talked about his new book—his seventh—“Better, Stronger, Faster: The Myth of American Economic Decline.” “I look at the economy from the perspective of private vs. public institutions and from the view of an American historian, not an economist,” he said. He recalled that it wasn’t very long ago when Japan was the rising star, complaining about U.S. economic mismanagement and buying up iconic N.Y. skyscrapers and California golf courses. Today the Japanese are totally discouraged by their stagnation, he said. Now China is being held out as the star, despite its poverty in the backcountry, escalating labor costs, and energy starvation. He cited numerous examples where the United States is in better shape than China and Japan. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Phyllis Groner for WestportNow.com