Everything Old is New Again: If Rip Van Winkle had dozed off four years ago during the 2020 Summer of the Pandemic, he might understandably have had grave concerns about the shuttered economy when he closed his eyes and what he would find when he awoke today.
Dr. Brian Wesbury in his “Three on Thursday” blog post graphically compares three key indicators that were profoundly affected by the shut downs. He looks at these metrics before during and after the pandemic: air travel, hotel occupancy, and theatre box office.
Dr. Wesbury writes “Many believed that the world would be forever changed and that things would never return to their pre-pandemic state. However, the data show that the post-COVID world resembles the pre-COVID world in many ways.”
Capitalism isn’t perfect or invulnerable, but freedom and incentives certainly make for an economy that came back from Covid and has weathered much worse.
“A squishy, soft economy” so says ITR Economics’ Brian Beaulieu. Weakening retail sales; consumer running out of gas; housing is problematic…but US Industrial production is up. What’s ahead? Find out in his July 19 FedWatch. If you want a deeper dive on Industrial Production, check out Brian Wesbury’s one page post from earlier this week.
