October 2016 Macro Pulse -- Competing Narratives

The election season is in overdrive, and thus it seems any statement or event is interpreted in radically different ways to make it fit a desired narrative. So, too, the U.S. economy -- which is either in the midst of the fourth-longest post-WWII economic recovery (87 months) or experiencing the weakest post-WWII economic expansion (averaging just 2% annual growth). In a similar vein, the U.S. economy was on the cusp of reaching full employment (5% unemployment rate) in September, even while 94 million working-age people were not even included in the workforce.

Click here to read other examples of seemingly contradictory data in the October 2016 Macro Pulse recap.

The Macro Pulse blog is a commentary about recent economic developments affecting the forest products industry. The monthly Macro Pulse newsletter typically summarizes the previous 30 days of commentary available on this website.