In the late 1990s, the United States achieved an economist’s dream. Unemployment was below four percent of the labor force for three years in a row. Jobs were plentiful, and job markets were tight. Growth was strong, the stock market was extremely high. And yet there was no increase in the rate of inflation. Moreover the federal budget went into surplus, with tax revenues exceeding public expenditure for the first time in thirty years.
Since that happy moment, dark times have come again, with a recessio…
