I AM BY nature and upbringing a pessimist. As a boy in Glasgow, I was encouraged to expect the worst, on the principle that by doing so you'll never be disappointed and sometimes you may even be pleasantly surprised.
This is not the American way. Optimism is in the DNA of the USA.
Nowhere is the sunny side sunnier than in Miami. I went there last week and was dazzled. The place is more than booming.
Yet, if history is any guide, our present golden age of globalization is unlikely to endure. It could be ended by a geopolitical crisis. Or it could be ended by a gradual domestic backlash.
Should Americans — and especially Miamians — be less optimistic? Conventional wisdom has it that they should. Economists want them to save more. Environmentalists want them to consume less.
Well, be careful what you wish for.
