I'm Pete du Pont with the National Center for Policy Analysis.
Now that January's winding up, I'm still awaiting the return of the chicken littles. I'd like to think Y2K shut them up, but I doubt it. Not when there's still recession, debt, trade disaster and evil globalism to rant against. But just as with the Y2K non-disaster, the evidence, as Dallas fed economist Richard Alm recently pointed out, is on the side of the optimists.
The economy has slumped only eight months in 17 years. Economic fundamentals are sound, and technology has barely begun to make things better.
American productivity is up 2.5 percent annually in the past five years, double the rate of the previous two decades. Contrary to conventional wisdom, the economy is operating at high speed without causing inflation. The Dow Jones average, doubling, then doubling again in the '90s, didn't reflect an illusion: the world's most savvy investors put their money there because of the economy's long-term potential.
The sky, most definitely, is not falling.
Those are my ideas, and at the NCPA we know ideas can change the world. I'm Pete du Pont, and I'll see you next time.