Why the US economy is doing great:
GDP growth back to 90’s and 00’s rate
record high exports
record high consumer spending
record consumer credit
record profits and earnings
stringent lending standards and less borrowing for home ownership:
fed never raising interest rates again (or at least not for a loooong time)
flat wage growth = less inflation = lower interest rates
Like a vampire, the economy – as measured by GDP and profits & earnings – gains vitality by sucking the middle, to put it cynically. Other measures such as wages and labor force participation are still weak – and will likely remain so forever, or at least a looong time. Hence, the economy an be both strong or weak depending on how you look it. But fortunately, it’s weak in the areas that influence fed policy (labor force participation, home formation, wages).
Stocks are surging not only because the economy is fundamentally sound, but also in anticipation of a republican control of all three branches, with a super-majority in the house and senate. The deeper of a hole Obama digs himself into, the higher stocks will rise. Dow 20,000 soon. Thank the fed, the consumer, free markets, tech entrepreneurs in Silicon Valley, defense spending, Caltech/MIT, and the Ivy League for America being exceptional – as much as the libs, in their war on success, want America and its great economy to regress and ultimately fail.