Submitted by CARPE DIEM

Nobody else reported this, so let me be the first to belatedly wish the U.S. Economic Expansion a hearty “Happy Sixth Birthday”!

According to the Business Cycle Dating Committee of the National Bureau of Economic Research, “a trough in business activity occurred in the U.S. economy in November 2001. The trough marks the end of the recession that began in March 2001 and the beginning of an expansion.”

So technically the current economic expansion actually started in November 2001, so the 6th year of the expansion is now officially a month old already, and we are in the 74th month of expansion.

The NBER’s historical business cycle data show that the average economic expansion since WWII lasted 57 months (4 years, 9 months), so the current expansion is already 17 months longer than average.

Not bad for the disparaged “Dangerfield Economy,” which gets no respect. And forget about “Goldilocks,” this should be called the mighty “Paul Bunyan Economy.”

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