While commentators are debating the causes and cures of our economic slowdown, the slowdown hasn't gone to the trouble of actually arriving

While commentators are debating the causes and cures of our economic slowdown, the slowdown hasn't gone to the trouble of actually arriving. Slow consumption growth in September and October helped to scare the Fed into another rate cut on December 11. The mortgage crisis was obviously to blame. Three days later, the September and October numbers were revised upward, and November's booming numbers were released.

It is a recurring pattern. Alarms were sounded when the government reported that the economy had lost 4,000 jobs in August. It now appears that the economy expanded by 93,000 jobs that month. The economic consultants at First Trust Advisors conclude: "The Fed is not tight, tax rates are still low, productivity is still strong, wages, incomes, and profit margins are still robust, and, after revisions, the U.S. economy has proven its resilience time and time again." Not all is rosy, of course. There seems to be some weakness in the job market for workers aged 16 to 24: an entirely predictable result of this summer's increase in the minimum wage. All in all, it seems that overreactions in Washington are the chief threat to the economy.