My favorite economic futurist.............

...........has on his rose colored glasses.  Jeff Thredgold's latest Tea Leaf has nothing but good news, stuff we don't normally hear.  Optimism being contagious, here is his full post, or for your reading pleasure, here is a sampling:

• U.S. economic growth has now been positive for eleven consecutive quarters
• Electricity produced by solar panels and wind power in the U.S. rose by 109% and 31%, respectively, last year
• Conventional thirty-year fixed-rate mortgages averaged 3.92% in recent weeks, the lowest level in 60 years
• The country’s net petroleum imports peaked at 60.3% in 2005 and dropped to 49.3% in 2010. North Dakota this year is expected to supply more oil for domestic use than Saudi Arabia
• U.S. exports to China have risen roughly 24% per year since 2001, making China the fastest growing market for U.S. goods
• Average U.S. life expectancy has reached 78.2 years (men 75, women 80), the highest ever.  This compares to 76 years in 1995, 68 years in 1950, and 47 years in 1900
• Even as U.S. economic output (GDP) has climbed by more than 210% since 1970, aggregate emission of six principal air pollutants has plunged by 60%
• America produces more steel today than 30 years ago, despite the shuttered plants and slimmed-down work force
• Roughly 30% of trash was recycled or composted in the latest year, versus 16% in 1990
• The U.S.accounted for 34% of the funds spent globally on research & development (R&D) during 2010
• The upward “mobility” of the typical American remains the greatest in the world.  Why?  The U.S. economy “rewards” the combination of hard work and educational achievement more than ever before…and more than any other country in the world.