Construction spending in September was up 0.6%, and in line with expectations. As these charts show, construction spending on both nonresidential and residential structures is up 14% from last year's low. After years of a disastrous decline, construction is now expanding faster than the overall economy. The sector is still very weak, but on the margin things are getting better.
"However, while designing the Recovery, we better beware: The return to growth should not come at any price. What grows matters. We want growth in sectors that generate good things that humanity needs more of and a deep deflation of the toxic sectors that make life nasty, brutish and short – from physical pollutants to real estate bubbles and toxic derivatives"
ReplyDeleteThe Fed is taking the growth at any price approach thus far...
Excellent set of posts by Scott Grannis.
ReplyDeleteBut they all point in roughly the same direction: The economy is lackluster, while inflation is dead.
The Fed had the field wide open to play a lot harder.