New York Yankee Hall of Fame catcher Yogi Berra, noted for his incisive malapropisms, once remarked about his ballclub's prospects, "The future, it ain't what it used to be." Well, to quote Yogi, the U.S.'s economic future ain't what it used to be, but as my BloggingStocks colleague Peter Cohan observed, it may not be what some economists currently make it out to be, either.
Cohan asked "Is the 'recession' real?" and argued that one could make a case that not enough evidence exists to suggest the U.S. is in recession -- two consecutive quarters of negative GDP growth has not been measure yet. Further, some sectors of the economy, including oil, oil services, energy, alternative energy, and farming, among others, are doing well.
Still, housing is in its worst slump in more than 20 years, consumer spending growth is modest at best, consumer confidence is low, and one need not list the litany of concerns regarding mortgage lenders and related asset-back securities and banks.
What's going on here?
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