Welcome to 2018!

Compared to the start of any other year during this recovery, things feel pretty good. The U.S. just finished what is likely the only back-to-back-to-back quarterly 3%+ real GDP growth rates of the recovery, the unemployment rate is within an eyelash of a 50-year low, U.S. real median income finally reached a new record high (i.e., the recovery has reached Main Street), holiday sales reportedly jumped by 4.9%—the biggest increase since 2011, and consumer confidence recently rose to its highest level since 2000.