Optimistic Economists Have Incredibly Low Expectations

Nelson Schwartz struggled to make sense of the economy in a NYT column today. After all, we see signs of economic weakness everywhere, yet the stock market is soaring. (This may be less of a mystery to folks who know that stock prices are ostensibly a measure of corporate profits, not the health of the economy.)

After going through the bad news, Schwartz gives us the case for optimism about the economy:

"'The current slowdown will be the last for a while,' said Ethan Harris, co-head of global...