Here's the thing, though. So far, the numbers suggest it's for real. Gross domestic product keeps growing faster than anyone expects. Inflation is almost negligible. Incomes are up and the poor are gaining.
Life is pretty good all around.
Colossal technological bounds, global interdependence, and sustained high growth aren't exceptional. Through most of America's economic history, they've proved the rule. Mired as we are in more recent, less interesting history, it's easy to overlook this past. We've grown accustomed to incremental improvements and measured change, which is what most of the 1970s and 1980s were all about. It comes down to this, then.