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Is US economy merely suffering from a cold?
The state of confusion about the U.S. economy boils down to one question: How much is bad weather responsible for a slowdown in growth in early 2014? Bullish forecasters put virtually all the onus on the weather. Consumers put off purchases of autos, homes and other items while they stayed off the roads and hunkered down inside. Many businesses also experienced major disruptions. The Great Lakes mostly froze over for the first time in over a decade, for example, and that put shipments of critical raw materials such as coal and iron ore on ice. “The bears are right when they say it’s not just the weather,” said ... (full story)