How America avoided an economic bust for a record-setting 121 months

Let's take a minute to praise the policymakers

America and bubbles.
(Image credit: Illustrated | vkulieva/iStock, Janoj/iStock, undefined undefined/iStock)

America's uninterrupted run of growth since the Great Recession just hit a record-setting 121 months. There was a time when economic expansions were usually ended by the Federal Reserve, when it tightened monetary too much in a quest to subdue inflation. But in the last few decades, things shifted, and bursting asset bubbles became the main killers of expansions. Yet here we are, an unprecedented 10 years into the latest round of economic growth, with nary a bubble in sight.

How did we do it?

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Jeff Spross

Jeff Spross was the economics and business correspondent at TheWeek.com. He was previously a reporter at ThinkProgress.