The start of 2016 shows a thriving economy the likes of which we have not seen in the past 16 years.  Unemployment is down to 4.9 percent, stock prices have recovered from their 2009 lows, and the housing market is now fully restored and is adding wealth to the net worth statements of nearly all home owners everywhere.  Last year alone saw housing values increase by an average 5.7 percent across the land.  On a typical $250,000 home, that increase amounts to $14,250.  Residents of Portland, Denver, Dallas, San Francisco, and Miami have done much better.  Add to those numbers the current price of gasoline ($161.90/gal. where I live), lower utility bills, zero inflation, a shrinking federal budget deficit, and a stronger dollar, and we have an economy that is far and away the strongest in the world.

 

Job growth follows money growth and population growth.  Politicians have virtually nothing to do with either, yet they want to take credit when it’s good in their state, and blame the White House when it’s bad.  Still, when it comes to apportioning credit, it is fair to note that Republican legislators in both houses of Congress have done nearly everything in their power in the past 7 years to sink the economy, or to block its growth by obstructing every bill put before them designed to bring about growth. 

 

Vote for the political candidates of your choosing.  Just keep economic facts separate from political fiction when assessing whether you are better or worse off in your economic lives, and who gets the credit and who must take the blame.  Consumer spending has the biggest role in growth at 70 percent, then comes government spending at 20 percent.  Corporations account for 10 percent, but their profits come from consumer and government spending.