People have a hard time accepting competing ideas at the same time. Humans are averse to discomfort so when that happens our brains work really hard to reduce that feeling. Cognitive dissonance makes it difficult to see both sides of an argument. Everything is either good or bad with no middle ground. And so it is with the economy. Some people think the current economic environment stinks. Other think people are overlooking the positives underlying the data. As usual, the truth probably lies somewhere in the middle. To avoid my own cognitive dissonance, let’s look at both the good and the bad in the U.S. economy ... (full story)