1. Do you think our economy has been moving in the right direction though out 2017-2018?

My local economy won't be in a good spot until oil clears $100/barrel.

When oil clears $100/barrel, that means the rest of the country has $4+/gallon gas.

So, I don't have a good perspective on how the economy overall is--- but I bet y'all are grateful that my personal economy isn't where the locals would prefer it. :P

A questions for those who mentioned TARIFFS.

If tariffs are bad for all sides, why didn't you say anything for the last 50 years about it?

For the last 50 years, those countries which are crying foul now, were imposing tariffs on US goods coming to their countries!

So it has been FINE for them to curtail US imports by imposing tariffs on us, but it's not OK for us to impose tariffs on them? Where's the logic?

DT brought tariffs as a tool to bring every country with whom we have a trade deficit to the table and re-negotiate. All roads lead to China, and when China surrender, all tariffs will disappear. Just wait and see.

The question was about our economy MOVING in the right direction, rather than current robustness.

Yes, our economy has been moving in the right direction during 2018, But, there are serious difficulties ahead.

Current robustness is still a result of anticipation of good times based on the change in administration away from concentration on social programs. Can our current President keep up the enthusiasm? Stock market has essentially stagnated in important sectors while waiting for Trump results, but so far they don't seem to be forthcoming. What would Republican defeat this fall cause? What can Trump do to assist American companies to increase profits next year? What effects will result from changes in trade agreements, Middle East unrest, security threats from Iran and North Korea? Will the American people be content to forego social programs, including rent relief?

Watch and see?

My daughter, who did not attend college and has a spotty job history, is making $15/hr working in a start up manufacturing plant. She averages 8 hours of OT a week. This is in Idaho, where the minimum wage is about $9 an hour. Our local economy is booming, help wanted signs are everywhere, rents and RE prices are way up.

The current tariff system, where US exports are heavily taxed but European exports are not, is a result of the Marshal Plan. Post WWII, Europe was destroyed. The current tariff system was implemented to help European manufacturing get back on its feet. WWII ended in 1945. It is way past time to make the tariff system more fair and to make NATO countries fairly contribute to their own defense.

And, for the record, the United States IS a great country. We were great when our brave, idealistic founders stood up to the most powerful nation at that time in world (England) to secure our liberty. We were great when 600,000 of our countrymen died in a war to end slavery. We were great when the pioneers tamed the West and created the "breadbasket to the world". We were great when our fathers and grandfathers risked life and treasure to free the world from evil dictators in WWI and WWII. We were great when the Berlin Wall fell and freedom spread across Eastern Europe. We were great when we conquered space and put a man on the moon.

Good times are the result of a 4 trillion dollar cash injection into the economy.

DT is just riding the wave of hard work done in the past by the Fed.

there is a lot of Trumpderangementsyndrome that is simply not mature but I have never seen signs for fuel delivery jobs where they will pay all costs for you to get your CDL drivers license

uhyeah...Bring me up to speed, what 4 T are you talking about?

I don't think anyone is qualified to comment on this nebulous critter we've dubbed "the economy". Here's why (and I admit up front my own inadequacies).

First, "The economy" is really a conglomerate of 10,000 "sub-economies" all over the world. I buy item A which was made in country B from parts sourced in countries C, D, and E using raw materials from countries F, H, I, A, and B.

Second, what is "wrong / bad" for group X is often "right / good" for group Y. Example: Rents are high. Yay for land lords! Stinks for tenants.

Third, factors beyond the control of any one person or group. We tend to (unwisely) tie results to one person or political party, but as seen in item 1 and 2 that is a fallacy of the grossest sort. We can't credit the former Prez, the current Prez, or the next Prez with "Making the Economy great". Is it good for you today? Great! I'm happy for you. But to say it's the result of Person X or Y is showing a shallow understanding at best. What is today will change tomorrow, next week, next month....

So...is the US Economy "good?" For me, presently, yes. Will it get better? I don't know. It could, or it could not. Rents are up. Tenants are paying better. Finding deals is more difficult. Labor costs are rising. Net outcome, who can tell until it's past?

My 401K went up by 10% during the first three months after the election of Mr. Trump who I literally worked my butt off for on social media. That resulted in diverticulitis from sitting too much.

My tenants all have great jobs and are getting raises. That's good for me also.

What he wants are NO tariffs for anyone. Real free trade, but to get it he has to do some tariff application so people pay attention. Otherwise, they won't. A Mustang costs $125,000 in China. Is that good? No. We have to get more of our cars sold in China.

China pays for the goods they buy here and then immediately devalues their currency so our farmers get less for their products. That has to stop.

Economy is great here, I'll happily go threw a cool down to win the trade war. Its not always about money, I'm tired of China walking all over us and its about time we stand up. Its ok if it takes a few points off our growth, it will do more harm to them.

Quantitative Easing.

www stlouisfed org/publications/regional-economist/third-quarter-2017/quantitative-easing-how-well-does-this-tool-work

4 Trillion dollars injected improved the economy.

Not the current tax cuts... far to early for any substantial effects. Which will add another 1 trillion to the deficit.

6 or so years ago, the help wanted ads were less than half a page. Now they 8 -10 pages. Legal notices for LLCs were maybe a dozen, now there are hundreds. Houses sat for sale for months to years, now they are sold in weeks. So is the economy better? At least here I think so. Based on those indicators.

Quantitative Easing I was 12/08-3/10. It was $600 billion.

Quantitative Easing II was 11/10 - 6/11. It was $600 billion.

Quantitative Easing III was 9/12 - 12/13. It was $40 billion?

Quantitative Easing ended in 2014.

From the St Louis FED report:

QE1, December 2008 to March 2010: Purchases of $175 billion in agency securities and $1.25 trillion in mortgage-backed securities.

Reinvestment Policy, August 2010 to present: Replacement of maturing securities to maintain the balance sheet at a constant nominal size if there is no QE program underway.

QE2, November 2010 to June 2011: Purchases of $600 billion in long-maturity Treasury securities.

Operation Twist, September 2011 to December 2012: Swap of more than $600 billion involving purchases of Treasury securities with maturities of six to 30 years and sales of Treasury securities with maturities of three years or less.

QE3, September 2012 to October 2014: Purchases of mortgage-backed securities and long-maturity Treasury securities, initially set at $40 billion per month for mortgage-backed securities and $45 billion per month for long-maturity Treasury securities.

The implications of all of these programs for the Fed’s balance sheet can be observed in Figure 1. From December 2007 to May 2017, the Fed’s total assets increased from $882 billion to $4.473 trillion—a fivefold increase. To give a measure of the magnitude of the program, total Fed assets increased from 6.0 percent of U.S. GDP in the fourth quarter of 2007 to 23.5 percent of GDP in the first quarter of 2017. Further, the average maturity of the assets in the Fed’s portfolio in early 2017 was much higher than before the financial crisis. As of May 2017, the Fed held no Treasury bills, which mature in a year or less; the Fed’s security holdings consisted almost entirely of long-maturity Treasury securities and mortgage-backed securities.

It takes time for all of the money to work it's way through the economy.

Deanna Petrol in London,couple of weeks ago,was £10 a gallon(Imperial),how ya like them apples

Miss Ally,like I said before,your 401k had nothing to do with what you thought it did,but to the integrity of the Trustees who were assigned to your trust.So all your hard work was for nought and that's really sad,because you deserve only the best.......

@cjo'h, I think London gets its oil and gas from the North Sea. :) I don't think any of my tenants are employed in the North Sea! :)

I filled up for $2.40/gal twice last week.

London's gasoline prices are mostly inflated by taxes-- fuel duties (57.95 p/litre) and value added tax (VAT - 21.62p/litre). Only 50.17 p/litre is the cost of oil, fuel production and supply, and profit margin. So at 129.74 p/litre, 61.33% is taxes, and 38.67% is product, based on Aug. 21, 2018 data.

CNN translates it to $5.79 USD/gallon. So if there were zero taxes, the price of London's petrol would be a bit under the price of my gas with its taxes.

I filled my van today at Costco ($3.25).

We pay $.80 more per gallon than what you Texans do.

If I buy 1000 gallons a year, I pay $800 more in gas taxes.

uhyea,

Fred.

Nope.

You might want look into the influence of presidents in economy.

Not strongly correlated. Policy takes years to express itself in the economy.

You're just being an ideologue. Since you appear to be a uncritical Trump supporter, just say so. It will save all of us a little time.

It doesn't really take years. Once regulations go away, business start expanding to take advantage of the easing, and once tax cuts go into effect, workers see an immediate increase in their paychecks. All of that equates to extra spending. Also by offering a low repatriation period, money held by businesses flowed in immediately.

You should see improvements by the end of the first quarter, but the full effects were realized by year end.

Nope.

Study the velocity of money.

The best point made of these 39 posts is: "Mind the Store" with all the meanings that infers.

I think presidents have little to do with the economy. They simply are in the chair to take the blame or get the credit. The actions of the Fed have a lot to do with what occurs. I often think about what would occur if interest rates were at the levels they were in the early eighties or even if we returned to "normal rates" that we had prior to the Fed's mechanitions. A passbook savings rate of 5% would upend the stock markets and real estate--and that's not an extraordinary risk free return.