[jyl]

A broad statistic like GDP growth doesn't show the imbalances in the economy.

The major imbalances in the US economy currently are:

1. Business doing better than consumer. Corporate profits and margins have grown very strongly and are at record levels. Measures of individual wage growth have been stagnant. "Capital" is making out like bandits, "labor" is not sharing in the gains.

2. Big business doing better than small. Very low borrowing rates, easily available capital, technology driven productivity, tax reduction schemes, low cost overseas production, accessible overseas markets - these are all available to large companies, but much less so to small companies and barely at all to mom and pops.

3. Income inequality getting more extreme. The wealthiest Americans are taking an ever larger share of income and assets, the poor and middle class an ever smaller share, and the ultra wealthy are doing the best. The top 0.1% have 20% of all wealth in the US, much more than the bottom 90%. Interestingly, the 1% to 0.1% group is not gaining that much in wealth, the big gains are at the ultra rich level. Income inequality is at levels not seen since the 1920s, just before the Great Depression.

4. Employment rate very different among classes. Look up unemployment among the young, certain minorities, less educated and compare to unemployment among the older, other races, and highly educated. The differences are huge and growing.

Thus the economy is booming for a few people, doing okay for some others, and still tough for many others.

This economy is, in some sense, a test of "trickle down" theory - increase wealth at the top levels of the economy, billionaires and CEOs and so on, and the gains will trickle down to the average Joe and Juan and then to the poor. After five years of economic recovery, you can judge how much is trickling down.