USA is No. 1 — so why don’t we think so?

Last weekend, the Olympics came to a close and Team USA stood regnant over the rest of the world.

It was a record-breaking year for American athletes, who scooped up 121 medals, including 46 golds, more than any other nation — a winning streak that hasn’t been pulled off at a Summer Games in 40 years. Of note were the women, who won over half the American golds.

That gets you thinking: throughout much of Central Africa, women aren’t just unlikely to be Olympians; they’re barred from holding government positions, brutalized by unspeakable war crimes, oppressed by an ever-rotating cast of male-dominated militias. Our great ally Saudi Arabia doesn’t permit women to drive cars. The connection made by Christopher Hitchens between empowering women and ameliorating poverty still holds — and sometimes nets you a couple dozen gold medals to boot.

In America today, combined individual wealth is the highest in the world. China, in second place, barely has 35 percent of what we do. Of course, there are objections to be made over the inequality in our economy. But the fact remains that we are a powerful, prosperous, relatively free country. We have the largest economy in the world, and we are separated by vast oceans from much of the globe’s strife, with better opportunities for advancement than anywhere else.

So why are so many Americans bummed out?

Judging from the public mood, you would think it was the late 1970s all over again, with runaway stagflation and snaking gas lines. According to Gallup, only 17 percent of the public is satisfied with the direction of the country, up only 10 percent since the recession of 2008 and 5 percent since Jimmy Carter donned a cardigan. In 1980, the “miracle” win by the American hockey team enlivened our moribund nation; today, Team USA cleans up and we remain miserable.

So why the massive dissatisfaction?

A few reasons, I think. The first is that we still haven’t fully recovered from the havoc that was wrought by the recession. Comparatively low unemployment numbers mask massive workforce dropouts, and, while wage stagnation is partially a myth, pay still hasn’t risen as consistently as it might have. Certain types of jobs barely exist at all anymore, particularly in manufacturing — now largely automated — which has left many workers behind. So while times are good, for many they’re not nearly as good as before, and for some they haven’t improved at all.

The second reason is that perception is reality. Switch on the news these days — especially the fatuous CNN — and you’re likely to find a blinking funeral procession of urgent catastrophes, from urban unrest to terrorist attacks in Europe. Exacerbate that with the ISIS threat, and it sure feels like the world is going to hell, even if it isn’t really.

That dovetails into the third reason: Washington policy of late has been a searing failure. The federal consolidations of the past two decades have yielded chaos and recession. Government seems impenetrably tin-eared. Confronted with economic downturn, they wreck the health insurance system. Presented with failure in Iraq, they invade Libya. All this from a political class that has little in common with many of those it regulates.

These are serious problems for which there’s no easy panacea. Even 46 gold medals won’t do.