Is Inflation Cooling? Or is This the Calm Before the Storm?

Stronger-than-expected growth last quarter plus low unemployment numbers are good signs, but tectonic geopolitical shifts are in the forecast.

Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash.

“The US economy’s growth was stronger than expected in the third quarter,” reported CNN triumphantly on November 30, 2022.

Before the ink was even dry on last quarter’s report, the happy news was spreading through the press like wildfire.

“Payrolls and wages blow past expectations, flying in the face of Fed rate hikes,” added CNBC on Friday, December 2.

Does this mean our wild economic ride of the past three years is over?

Perhaps not.

The past years have exposed a few weaknesses in our foundational economic strengths. The U.S., and its economy, face new threats and long-simmering ones in a world altered by COVID-19.

One of those imminent threats is over-globalization.

Globalization, like so many other complex and interdependent systems, is hard to reduce to an over-simplification like, “globalization was good,” or, “globalization was bad,” for the United States and the world.

Like most things, globalization has had advantages and disadvantages. In balance, was globalization worth it?