While some economists lambaste the Federal Reserve for what they see as an ineffective easing program, Michael Ivanovitch, president of MSI Global research firm, begs to differ.
And he puts his argument in interesting terms, citing the U.S. trade deficit as evidence of strength.
"The accelerating U.S. economy is on course to generate this year a trade deficit of $700 billion — about 4 percent of its GDP, which can be considered as America's net contribution to the growth of the world economy in 2014," Ivanovitch, a former Fed economist, writes in a commentary for
CNBC.
"That remarkable achievement must be credited to the Federal Reserve's effective crisis management."
And why does the central bank deserve the credit?
"Working against the headwinds of a sharply tightening fiscal policy, and the lingering problems in the financial system, the Fed has made it possible for the economy to bounce back from the widespread ravages of one of its worst financial crises on record," Ivanovitch says.
The economy has averaged growth of 4.8 percent for the last two quarters.
Stephen Moore, chief economist of The Heritage Foundation, says the Obama administration deserves none of the credit for that performance.
"This isn't a story of government-directed growth, but the opposite — Washington's role in the economy starting to shrink after years of Obama administration activism. The private sector is starting to take over," he writes in
The Washington Times.
"What's generating the growth? A huge factor has been the fall in energy costs." Oil prices have plunged to five-year lows this month.
In addition, "businesses are clearly feeling less fearful about investing," Moore says. "And some of the negative, wet-blanket effect of Mr. Obama's anti-business, anti-shareholder agenda has dissipated as the Republican Congress repels his worst ideas."
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