On this extremely spring-like Monday, we have a bit of a theme show for your today — things getting done better, from the world-wide nation state system to Washington, health care, and even a new way to fly.

We’ll start with taking a close look at what’s happening under the hood of our economy, focusing on one important thing we learned during our 30 Million Jobs tour: that despite our problems (be it rigged trade, tax, or bank policy), there are many, many opportunities to do things better out there.  We’re primed for an innovation-driven techboom, but only if we’re willing to look at how other economies are succeeding.

We start today with author Ruchir Sharma, head of Morgan Stanley’s emerging markets whose new book Breakout Nations: In Pursuit of the Next Economic Miracles discusses how international investors view the U.S. economy in the midst of the global economic slowdown, and what positive signs point to a U.S. recovery.

Next, we’ll talk about reframing U.S. foreign policy with our Monday Megapanel of Imogen Lloyd Webber (@illoydwebber), Tim Carney (@tpcarney) and Wesleyan University professor Mike Williams  as the State Department warns North Korea “don’t do it!” amid reports that country is set for a nuclear weapons test, while Iran’s uranium enrichment ahead of critical talks this week in Turkey.

The Meditative Congressman: Calm down and relax!  Easier said than done, right? But that’s the message of Rep. Tim Ryan of Ohio.  As is spelled out in this recent Washington Post article on his book, he believes that mindfulness is key to restoring the American spirit.  Check out his new book, A Mindful Nation: How a Simple Practice Can Help Us Reduce Stress, Improve Performance and Recapture the American Spirit.

Hotspotting for “Healthier Healthcare?”  We’ve talked about what Dr. Brenner has done in Camden — now meet the Local 49’ers – a union representing thousands of engineers in Minnesota, as well as North and South Dakota.  They discovered that just 17% of their members accounted for 83% of their annual health care costs.  Martha Lafave, one of their health fund coordinators and Jim Hansen, one of the Local 49’ers health and welfare trustees will join us to talk about their findings (and, most importantly, their cost savings.)