Abstract

After two uninspiring years, American economic growth has picked up in 2002 and especially in 2003, thanks to a renewed increase in household spending. Within the currently strained geopolitical context, economic perspectives for 2004 and 2005 remain favourable and net job creation resurfaced in the summer of 2004. The results of the American economy testify to the strong reactivity of the system and of economic policies to the shocks of the previous four years: the burst of the internet bubble, the Enron scandal, the 9/11 attacks, the war in Iraq, etc. The monetary policy of he Federal Reserve has in particular shown itself to be especially accomodating, while the strongly keynesian budgetary policy of the federal government produced the highest deficit recorded since the Reagan presidency, as well as a considerable increase in federal debt levels. At the same time, monetary authorities let the value of the dollar slide, thus serving the interests of the United States, given the nature of the current cycle.