When it comes to assessing the strength of the U.S. economy, observers tend to rely on comparisons to recent history. For example, Americans recently saw 27 consecutive months of unemployment below 4% — a streak unseen in the United States since the 1960s. Similarly, 2023 was arguably the best year for U.S. job creation since 1999.
But there’s also an international dimension to this.
In January, The Washington Post reported that Americans were experiencing “the world’s best recovery,” which was “outperforming all of its major trading partners.” Around the same time, an Axios report similarly noted, “The United States economy grew faster than any other large advanced economy last year — by a wide margin — and is on track to do so again in 2024.” The article added that Americans were winning the post-pandemic global economic “war.”
As 2024 approaches the halfway…
