Economic Snapback

by Kerby Anderson: The US economy is doing better than most economists predicted. Harrison Dunn says we are witnessing the “sharpest economic snapback in US history.” This isn’t what many pundits and economists predicted. Most assumed we would still be trying to dig out from the devastation of the pandemic lockdowns.

This economic snapback may also explain why the Gallup poll that I mentioned in a previous commentary has 56 percent of voters believing they were better off today than they were four years ago. The lockdowns collapsed the global demand for goods and drove unemployment to high levels. Now markets have not only stabilized but also rebounded quicker than many would imagine.

Oil, for example, is up over 100 percent from levels of just a few months ago. Oil prices are usually a sound indicator for resumption of robust economic activity. Within months we have moved from economic contraction to economic expansion.

Another indicator is copper, which is a basic material used throughout manufacturing. The market collapsed in the Spring but is now trading higher than in the pre-pandemic levels.

Employment is probably the best economic metric to illustrate the economic snapback. Pundits and economists predicted that we wouldn’t see a complete employment recovery for years. Some economists suggested we might be heading for a decades-long depression. That is not what happened.

The unemployment rate reached a high point of 14.7 percent a few months ago. The current unemployment rate is 7.9 percent. Dunn reports that “this growth is the highest on record for the United States.”

Obviously, more economic growth is necessary in order to employ more Americans, but this economic snapback is certainly good news for millions of US citizens who were rightly concerned about our economic future.
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Kerby Anderson @KerbyAnderson) is an author, lecturer, visiting professor and radio host and contributor on nationally syndicated Point of View and the "Probe" radio programs.

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