Sage Advice Quarterly Market Review 1Q1999

The logic of Fed chairman Greenspan’s claim that the U.S. cannot remain an “oasis of prosperity” while the global economy deteriorates is unassailable. Yet, not only is the U.S. economy continuing to defy logic, it is turning it upside down. Indeed, it seems that the worse conditions become overseas, the more sustenance they provide to America’s perpetual growth engine, which has now propelled the expansion to a peacetime record for longevity. In the second half of last year, for example, we witnessed the Russian debt default and ruble devaluation, a deepening recession in Japan, a growth slowdown in Europe, and the spread of currency contagion to Latin America that is now toppling the Brazilian economy. But despite several episodes of financial disruptions that these global events inspired, the U.S. economy continues to thrive.