Remember when a pretty girl and shiny Buick brought a fella so much pride, General Motors ruled the world, and as every year more and more Volkswagens sold in America, those strange little bug-like, under powered "cars" from god know where, we were reassured that these mangy pathetic death traps should be ignored, as "obviously" they could never succeed in America? Americans wanted big, heavy cars from Detroit with lots power and air conditioning. Now scan ahead 3 min and 30 sec (click on the flag) into this Breakout session to hear Hank Smith expound on America's dominate position in the world.. http://finance.yahoo.com/blogs/breakout/amazon-bet-1-billion-cut-cord-why-121935793.html Are you hearing anything familiar? Have you been around long enough to have learned that whenever you think you're so great that you've got a license to ignore competition to the point of not even acknowledging that it exits, you had better take an occasional glance over your shoulder? The biggest mistake that Americans can make with regard to their own well-being is to buy into the the "American Exceptionalism" myth!
You're not describing an American trait, you're describing a common psychological phenomenon... Confidence is highest at the peak... Depair is deepest at the nadir...
Yes. That's a corollary of the myopia that afflicts we humans at both great depths and great heights of achievement.