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Giving Thanks for Our Stroke of Good Fortune By Stephen J. Butler

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In the middle of some interminable debate we were having, my college roommate pointed out that I hadn't had much to do with my success up to that point. "You have just been fortunate enough to be born as someone above average," he said. He could have added, "Like ALL the children of Lake Woebegon." In those days I had been struggling to do my homework, practice musical instruments, excel in sports and maintain a social life.

It had never occurred to me to think about how much of what I had accomplished amounted to the luck of the draw.

They say the best way to avoid heart disease is to choose your parents carefully. The same could be true about living the most comfortable and fulfilling life in the world community. The best bet is to choose parents who are American citizens or who have managed to create a life in this country.

According to a newspaper account, a reporter in Afghanistan was talking on a satellite phone to the United States. A Northern Alliance soldier stepped forward and asked, "Do you mind if I used that phone to call my brother? He lives in Detroit."

Any of us Americans who are following the war in Afghanistan have to ask ourselves how we managed to be fortunate enough to avoid being born in that country. I am amazed at the suffering those families are experiencing as they flee on shoeless feet with their donkeys into Pakistan or just to neighboring cities. For the record, I'm half Finnish. Finns trace their roots to Genghis Kahn and the Mongolian hoards who swept through Europe stopping in Hungary and ending up in Finland. The Hazara tribe of the Northern Alliance has the same Mongolian roots. Had my ancestors not decided to just stay in Finland, I could be fighting the Taliban today.

Meanwhile, the satellite phone call from the Khyber Pass to the brother in Detroit offers an example of the globalization that is now changing the face of the planet. As investors preparing for retirement, we need to appreciate this development, because it has a far-reaching impact on our quality of life and our ability to achieve financial success. In the light of globalization, the strengths of our country offer much reason for optimism, and this can be especially good news in the wake of our retirement portfolios that have taken a big hit.

Thomas Friedman has written an astounding book, "The Lexus and the Olive Tree" which could qualify as "the only book you need to read on globalization." He ticks off the reasons for why America is uniquely blessed to be a leader in this new era. To mention a few, we are geographically situated between Asia and Europe and in the middle between Canada and Latin America. We have a unique multiethnic and multilingual population that can connect with all populations of the globe, but we are connected by a common language, English. We have flexible capital markets that encourage risk-taking and that operate in an honest regulatory environment. We have a great immigration policy that siphons off some of the best brains in the world including some of the most ambitious entrepreneurs. We have a standing military force that has no equal. Friedman's outline of our basic assets goes on to much greater lengths. If our good fortune as individuals is rooted in our selection of our parents, we should also consider the luck we had in our nation's choice of founding fathers as well.

To be fair, Friedman also points out that we are not without our problems. Crime-ridden inner cities, under-funded public schools, lack of gun control, a culture of litigation, politics corrupted by campaign finance laws, and a credit card culture that prompts spending beyond our means are all components of our lives that will stand in the way of our success in a globalized world.

Globalization, however, and our leading role as a country, should offer a fundamental cornerstone of value to shore up our retirement portfolios. The events of the past several weeks seem to support this. The market is up 20% since its low point of September 21st, and the NASDAQ is up over 30%.

Meanwhile, we have fought three expensive wars when we consider the Gulf War, the Yugoslavian conflict and now Afghanistan, but this may be the price we pay for spearheading the requirement of a world police force. Helping to keep order in the world and standing in the way of people who want to conduct massacres is a worthy pursuit. One encouraging sign from our new president is his inclination to change his mind when presented with new situations. Where he came into office declaring that "America is not into nation building," he now seems to recognize that we can't afford not to offer that consulting service. The world is like a spider web. You touch one strand and the entire web shakes. I must confess that I always liked Madeline Albright and Henry Kissinger because they came from Eastern Europe and had a first-hand appreciation of how badly some societies can behave. The citizens of a globalized world cannot afford to allow bad behavior. This explains why the alliance created to stop terrorism is as strong as it is today.

As December marks the official end of the Thanksgiving holiday, we can reflect once again on our good fortune and the fact that we stand to be the leaders as a global country that extends far beyond the geographical boundaries of the United States. Larry Summers, the former Treasury Secretary said, "The only thing we have to fear is the lack of fear itself." In the light of all that is happening today, I think we can afford to be cautiously upbeat and proud of what we are undertaking. At the same time, we should be thankful for the fate that has dealt us so much.

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