By Jack Houvouras
HQ 129 | SPRING 2025
I had an interesting conversation recently with my longtime friend Bill Noe. Bill is the former president and COO of NetJets, the world’s largest private aviation company. He’s also the namesake of Marshall University’s flight school. Because Bill has flown to six of the world’s seven continents over the course of his 40-year career, I decided to ask him to name his favorite country in the world. He paused, smiled and replied, “I assume you mean outside the United States.”
The implication was clear. After seeing nearly every country around the globe, Bill believes the quality of life we enjoy in America is unsurpassed. That is something I have come to realize as well. While we may have our shortcomings, the standard of living we enjoy in this country is exceptional.
As an example, my home is located on the border of the seventh-poorest county in the second-poorest state in America. Yet whenever I drive through the area, I rarely see an old or rundown automobile. Instead, I often see large four-door pickup trucks that retail for $70,000 or more. Travel to Europe and you will be surprised by the number of small, aging vehicles on the road.
When I fly anywhere these days, the airports are jampacked with travelers from every walk of life. I remember when air travel was only available for the well-to-do, but that’s no longer the case thanks to the industry’s deregulation in 1978. Even considering the lower prices, I am still baffled by the number of U.S. citizens who can afford to fly around the country and the world.
Our nation’s infrastructure may need updating, but I believe our interstate system is still one of the finest in the world. You can easily drive from Miami, Florida, to Seattle, Washington, for free — on flat, safe, uncongested roads. And keep in mind it has been that way for a very long time in America. When Huntington businessman Bob Shell first began going to China in the 1980s to explore overseas opportunities, he told me it would take three hours to drive 50 miles on the country’s shoddy roads.
When the smartest students from around the world choose to pursue a higher education degree, they invariably come to the United States. That’s because our colleges and universities are the envy of the world.
I believe Americans do an outstanding job taking care of their own. Whether it’s children or the elderly, the poor or disabled, or any group facing life challenges, there is help available. In Huntington, for example, the homeless can seek help at Harmony House, the City Mission, the Salvation Army and nearly every church in the region. Or consider how Huntington and Marshall University have worked together in recent years to treat people struggling with drug addiction. It can be argued that no other community has done more to care for its citizens suffering from the effects of the nation’s opioid epidemic than Huntington.
One of the reasons there is so much aid available for the less fortunate is that Americans are some of the most generous people on the planet. According to the World Giving Index, the United States ranked first in generosity in 2013, 2014, 2015 and 2019.
Finally, because our country embraces entrepreneurship and a free enterprise system, virtually anyone can succeed. Any individual with a good idea and a strong work ethic can obtain financial assistance and support to elevate their station in life. There are more millionaires in America than anywhere else in the world, and more than 80% of them are self-made. Considering all that, I won’t be taking for granted the quality of life we all share anytime soon.
