America’s Goldilocks economy

When Goldilocks broke into the three bears’ house and stole their breakfast, she found Baby Bear’s porridge to be just right — neither too hot nor too cold. The same is true of today’s ‘Goldilocks’ American economy: it is growing neither too fast nor too slowly but just right, to the great surprise of its many critics.

In fact, America’s resilience in the face of intense economic headwinds has been one of the great surprises of the past 18 months. Wall Street pundits were convinced the US economy would grind to a halt in the second half of last year, and would by now be mired in rising unemployment, low growth and rising inflation. This would have been a disaster for the British economy too, since we are linked more than ever to US markets.

Not only has there been no American recession, but a soft landing has turned into accelerating growth.