The Crash of the American Economy

[Undertoad]

What economic indicators are important? Mine would be GDP, unemployment, job creation, personal income, and corporate income.

GDP and income figures available here; employment information here

GDP and corporate income are doing awesome right now. GDP is the most important economic indicator of all, the big daddy. They just reported 3Q05 GDP increase of 4.1%. That is not just good. It is excellent.

Personal income recovered from Katrina and the summer gas prices and continues a light drift upward; unemployment has been flat at 5% for a long time now, which suggests it is returning to the "baseline" it stood around for a long time in the 80s-90s. Job creation was the most-reported economic statistic preceding the 2004 election, but it was a lagging indicator and has been strong through 2005.

I don't care about the trade deficit because I remember the last time the trade deficit was a concern and it truly was not. I think trade deficits just happen automatically when the US economy is growing quicker than its trade partners.

I don't care about personal debt because people buy cars and other big items when they have an optimistic outlook on their income potential. Ask LJ.

I don't believe the manufacturing numbers are actually that bad.