House of Mirrors based Projections

Since last Fall when the Republicans in Congress decided to play nice there has been a general consensus that the economy and the markets are off to the races, i.e. no more bad stuff, shutting down government, etc.  The setup over the past 9 months has been quite dramatic, markets are up, funny money is flowing to stock buybacks and extravagant buyouts.  Even the consumer has bought into this idea a bit, but the economy measured by final demand is to say the least lacking.  Consumer sentiment which just came out minutes ago confirms that the high water market since 2009 was last July, things are treading water at home.

So where do things go from here ? You decide.