Here’s a headline for ya:
Economy Set for Better Times Whether Obama or Romney Wins
The article goes on to state that better times they are a’comin. I’d have to agree that housing is showing signs of life, with price pressures mounting as inventories dry up. Consumer confidence is up as well.
However, I tend to focus on phrases like this:
And banks are increasing lending…
And I tremble.
The trillion dollar question has always been the Fed’s exit strategy, or lack thereof, for the monies held by the banks. If the strategy is just to lend it out, we’re going to see some rather high inflation rates going forward. I doubt the deflator used to calculate GDP removes all of the inflation from the picture, so GDP numbers will be high even though some portion of it will be inflationary fluff.
Also, the country has some serious IOUs pending. Not just social security and medicare, but badly underfunded municipal pension plans as well. We may see higher tax rates to pay for it, thereby extracting some of the money entering the system (I’m sure Triple Hash could lend some insight here).
If all goes well, maybe they can bring this puppy in for a perfect paper airplane landing.
