Skip to footer

A new year, a warming economy

With the US economy growing faster than it has in more than a decade, the recovery may finally be broadening to include Main Street America.

|
Carlo Allegri/Reuters
A ticker reads above 18,000 on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange in New York Dec 23. US stocks advanced on Tuesday as the Dow climbed above the 18,000 mark for the first time in history and the S&P 500 set a new intraday record after an unexpectedly strong report on economic growth.
  • By the Monitor's Editorial Board

As 2015 is about to dawn, the US economy is starting to heat up. Really heat up.

And, just as importantly, the benefits of that improving economy may finally be beginning to reach beyond those who were already well-off.

Among the year-end economic good news:

  • The US economy grew at a 5 percent rate in the third quarter of 2014, improving on an already robust 4.6 rate the previous quarter. It was the best rate of growth in 11 years, including several years before the 2008 recession.
  • The Dow Jones Industrial Average and the broader S&P 500 hit all-time highs Dec. 23, with the Dow crossing the 18,000 mark for the first time ever. The benefits of rising stock prices extend beyond the wealthy into the lives of millions of middle-class Americans, who hold stock funds in their IRA or 401k retirement plans.
  • The price of oil is down some 46 percent since its June peak of around $115 per barrel. That’s pushed gasoline prices dramatically lower – and analysts now predict they’ll stay down in 2015. The average driver will save about $550 on gasoline next year, down about 20 percent from this year, according to government forecasts.
  • American consumers are more optimistic about the economy than anytime in the past eight years, according to an index monitored by the University of Michigan.

While that good news gives reason for gratitude, the economic upswing still must broaden if it is to improve the lives of all Americans. The wealth gap in the US today between upper-income families and the middle class is the widest in 30 years, according to a December report from the Pew Research Center. The median net worth of upper-income families is nearly 70 times that of lower-income families in the US, also the widest margin in 30 years, the center found.

But the surging economy now may be poised to reach deeper into the US workforce.

"There is a positive feedback loop going on,” says economic analyst Mike Jakeman. "Job creation is running at the strongest rate for 15 years. More people in work means more income, which means more private spending, which means more business investment, which means more hiring."

In addition, many low-income Americans will be getting a modest income boost in 2015. Millions of retirees will see a 1.7 percent bump in their Social Security checks beginning in January, as a cost-of-living adjustment kicks in. And many who work for the minimum wage, such as those at fast-food and retail chains, could see their incomes rise too: Twenty-one states are scheduled to raise their minimum wages in early 2015.

In the dawning new year the US will inherent many unsolved problems, such as the need for healing of racial mistrust and bitterness. A better economy can actually provide part of the solution. Joblessness and poverty are among the underlying causes of many social frictions, which often improve as economic prospects brighten.

The economy today is far from perfect. But, all in all, it represents the best economic news for Americans for many a new year.

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.
Real news can be honest, hopeful, credible, constructive.
What is the Monitor difference? Tackling the tough headlines – with humanity. Listening to sources – with respect. Seeing the story that others are missing by reporting what so often gets overlooked: the values that connect us. That’s Monitor reporting – news that changes how you see the world.
editor@csmonitor.com
Subscribe
Mark Sappenfield
Editor

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

Subscribe to insightful journalism

QR Code to A new year, a warming economy
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/Commentary/the-monitors-view/2014/1224/A-new-year-a-warming-economy
QR Code to Subscription page
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe