This has been an interesting year - both for me personally and for the US.
Personally, I have seen my health decline rapidly - with many ups and downs. Currently I seem to be in a holding pattern and things are [mostly] looking up.
the US, IMHO, as not fared as well - our world influence and prestige has declined; our politics are in disarray, and our economy is still pretty much a mess.
As a student of and sometime teacher of History, I tend to see things from the longer comparative viewpoint and it seems to me that we (the US) are entering a period of greed and thoughtlessness where multiple demagogues struggle for power riding a wave of voter apathy and fear. Fear that somehow they will lose what little economic security they have left and disregard for those that have already fallen by the wayside.
These purveyors of fear label everything they see as threatening as "Socialistic" or "terrorist" using those loaded terms to frighten voters into rejecting any change, however positive. They,for example, have pretty much cut the government at all levels from its rightful place as an economic and social spark-plug - as it should be in a democracy - to a government that seems to cater to and protect the richest among us - even though history has clearly shown that government-led economic stimulus has led to the most dramatic upturns in our economic and social history.