BofA Merrill Lynch economist Ethan Harris isn’t buying what he calls ”extreme perma-bear stories” about the U.S. economy. A couple of weeks of disappointing U.S. economic data, culminating in Friday’s weak employment report , revived concerns that the economy was struggling to reach recession escape velocity.
In a research note, Harris said the bad news hasn’t changed his forecast for U.S. economic growth of 3 percent-plus over the next two years. He says the economy has a natural tendency to eventually return to full employment once the “negative shocks” are gone. He points to six major economic theories to support his view, including Keynesian, the Austrian school, and the “financial accelerator model,” which counts Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke among its advocates.
But he acknowledges there is one well-known economic theory which does not support his forecast:
“The one notable exception to this view is Marxism. In Marxist theory the capitalist world is doomed to ever worsening cycles of boom and bust, culminating in its collapse and the assent of communism. Needless to say, we do not ascribe to this view.”
