The economic recovery is real, and even though it’s not spectacular, it’s getting there.
The good news is that the economy grew at a 5 percent annual pace in the third quarter this year, revised up from the 3.9 percent that the Commerce Department had previously estimated. It’s the best quarterly growth since 2003, and, on the heels of the 4.6 percent growth in the second quarter, it’s also the best six months the economy has had in that long. The even better news, though, is that this growth, unlike every other uptick the past few years, looks sustainable.
This isn’t a blip. It’s a boom.
Well, at least by the sad standards of this slow and steady recovery. The truth is that for all the hype and headlines about every little head fake, the economy has just been chugging along at the same 2 percent pace the past few years.
I am not an economist but a huge drop in the cost of fuel would certainly register on a productivity reading. Goods could be produced for less. That, to my mind, does not mean people are necessarily working harder or producing more themselves at this stage of things.