Have you heard that the U.S. economy now has a “New Normal”?
Bill Gross and the folks at PIMCO use this term to describe their forecast for slower economic growth, increased regulation, and a smaller role for the U.S. in the global economy.
Now, it seems that everyone is using the phrase, “New Normal.” The phrase, “New Normal”, even tops a list of most overused phrases of 2009.
My question is: What was normal anyway? There’s no such thing as normal. The economy is always changing. Our economic future is always uncertain. Cycles of economic growth and contraction are always different.
To say our economy is normal is to say that there is a common, usual, and regular pattern to follow. Not true.
Advances in technology, changing demographics, innovation, and government regulation are constantly creating changes to the economy. The minute we think something is normal we better look out. Change is on the horizon.
Let’s can the term “New Normal” and just agree that the economy is constantly changing.
Especially when the term “new normal” seems to refer to continued volatility, using normal doesn't make any sense!