if you are watching too much "news" in America these days, you're not hearing the truth about the economy as much as political messaging and strategy. The truth is, the U.S. still has the strongest economy on the planet. We should be touting that.

America's performance should be measured against the current competition, not against the records it set in the 1990s or 2000s. Everything is relative to expectations, even global economic competition. These days, the United States is an underestimated underdog, while China is still widely seen as a dominant sprinter, even though it is carrying a worse burden in terms of national debt. The expectations gap is crucial to parsing the confused public discussion of the American recovery, and what it means for America's future.

For instance, after losing 6 million manufacturing jobs in the last decade, the US gained half a million in the last 18 months.

(READ the story in the Atlantic)