And now for the good news about America

Ready for some good news?

Let's take a breather from wallowing in politics, where the mantra seems to be that we are a nation of faded glory with doom all around us.

Honestly, a lot of good stuff is happening out there.

It's encouraging that the U.S. economy has added jobs for 72 months straight. Unemployment is down to 5 percent. Yes, everyone wants more money, but we are not in a recession. And contrary to the prediction of one of the all-is-dire pitchmen, a massive recession does not loom. The auto industry just had its best year ever. The economy is growing.

Another old shibboleth is that Americans are miserable on the job. Not so. Americans are workers, and most Americans like their jobs and get satisfaction from them. Wages are too slowly rising — but they are going up. The average gap in economic satisfaction between the upper and lower thirds in income is lower than it was during the Reagan, George H.W. Bush, Clinton or George W. Bush years, according to the respected Index of Consumer Satisfaction.

The world of work is changing, however, as are the tools needed for the jobs of tomorrow. Change is hard, but Americans are some of the best adapters on Earth. Perhaps no people have exploited opportunity as much as those of this nation. And nothing has dimmed Americans' desire to innovate and make technology work for them.

There have been many flat-out statements that the nation's new Affordable Care Act would give employers a push to drop health insurance coverage. That has not happened. According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, employers are even more determined to provide health benefits than before the law took effect. The percentage of adults under 65 with employer-based insurance held firm for the last five years after steadily declining since 1999. And more than 16 million previously uninsured people now have health insurance.

This is a good step that shows Americans are caring people, concerned about such magnificent mammals.

The ranks of the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) are filled with badasses who want to kill us and destroy our way of life. And we've made enormous mistakes fighting terrorists. But it's not true that the U.S. is doing little to stop terrorism.

The U.S. has been destroying ISIL's finances and access to cash. Some units of ISIL fighters have been unpaid for months. More than 10,000 drone strikes have killed experienced ISIL leaders, reducing the group's territory and destroying its oil reserves. This is not a war won overnight, but also not one without significant victories.

Nuclear weapons could obliterate the planet. But they have not been used for evil, and many are working hard to prevent that.

At the recent Nuclear Security Summit in Washington, 50 top international leaders revealed their progress. They have removed or secured all of the highly enriched uranium and plutonium from more than 50 facilities in 30 countries — enough to create 150 nuclear weapons, and it's no longer available to terrorists. Fourteen nations have rid themselves entirely of highly enriched uranium and plutonium. Ukraine, a war zone, no longer has enriched uranium.

The next time you hear someone insist that this country is in really bad shape, take it with a grain of salt. And, incidentally, a little bit of daily salt is good for you, according to a study of 100,000 people reported in the New England Journal of Medicine.