This is the worst economy I have ever seen. I see no growth at all.
No growth in anything except costs and its all driven by regulation and bungled micro-management in service to an agenda.
With the extreme cold and the high price of propane, I expect commerce in the Northern Tier to shrink drastically in the next few weeks. Disposable income will go to paying off winter heating/electric bills. My friends in town w/natural gas are also reporting large heating bills for December and are dreading the January bills.
The basic costs to run a business are similarly high. My husband’s office is in a building with a pennywise, pound foolish landlord. He turned the heat down over a bitterly cold weekend and had to replace the toilets and repair the pipes. Everyone is balancing freezing and property damage against paying over 2x the prior price for heating in an environment where there is an increased need for the heat/electric use.
So exports are up? Maybe the politicians need to increase their votes from the EU.
Oh, wait.....