[timr]

If you don't live here, then you have no idea what I'm talking about.

Look, there are obviously pockets of this country where people feel stuck. I'm even a firm believer that many people in the US actually are stuck in place by forces beyond their control. But in general, a lack of optimism has never been a problem in this country.

Survey after survey tells us that, on average, Americans believe that we're smarter, more capable and harder working than our peers. We believe that if we work hard, we'll be rewarded proportionately. We believe that the rich/poor gap is much smaller than it is. We believe -- in ridiculously large numbers -- that we all have a realistic chance of becoming wealthy. It manifests itself in thousands of ridiculous ways, from our abysmal savings rate, to the way our political system tends to reward the wealthy at the expense of the average.

There's a human bias toward optimism, but Americans really take it to the next level:

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/15/opinion/15Sharot.html?_r=0

[smtddr]

There's a difference between optimism, arrogance, desperation and ignorance. Some of the things you described I wouldn't label with the word "optimism".