Spring turns to summer in America, and once again, the mown-grass scent of economic optimism is in the air. An 11 per cent annual rise in house prices and a boom in the stock market does that to people. Higher asset prices are not much good by themselves – growth in incomes, jobs and activity is plodding – but markets seem to be sustaining the economy through the worst of tax rises and government spending cuts. Consumer confidence has not been this high for five years.
美國由春入夏,再一次地,空氣中瀰漫的經濟樂觀情緒如同修整過的草地般芬芳。住房價格同比高達11%的漲幅以及股票市場的牛市行情確實會對人們產生這種影響。資產價格上漲就其自身而言並沒有太大益處——居民收入成長、就業以及經濟活動仍然低迷——但市場似乎正在支撐經濟渡過有史以來最爲嚴峻的增稅以及政府支出縮減時期。消費者信心在近五年都沒有像現在這樣高漲過。