No Joyride in 1989

The economy will have to grow more slowly, but runs the risk of a stall

Like a remarkably rugged, durable automobile, America's economy has motored through some of the harshest possible conditions without losing its momentum. The recovery has dodged hazards ranging from the October 1987 stock-market crash to last summer's drought. The longevity of the expansion, one of the Reagan Administration's proudest legacies, defies all odds. During the past 130 years, the U.S. economy has suffered a recession on the average of once every 4.3 years. But the current growth period, now entering its seventh year, is by far the longest peacetime boom in U.S. history. The economy, says Lawrence Kudlow, chief economist for the...

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