As I’ve said before, one of the most striking characteristics the US economy demonstrated in 2023 was resilience. Texas set a blazing growth pace for the year, though things slowed a bit toward the end. Let’s look back at the year and the key developments from an economic perspective.
About a year ago, everywhere you looked there was another prediction of a recession (possibly a major one). Although I always thought (and said and wrote) that the fears were overblown, we were in an environment characterized by rampant inflation, with the Federal Reserve taking aggressive actions and indicating that it would stay the course until price increases slowed their upward spiral.
The path toward a “soft landing,” where inflation is tamed without fostering a recession, is always difficult. Last January, it appeared to many as if the chances of avoiding a downturn were next to nil. It was a case of a recession that wasn’t, with month after month of expansion despite ongoing challenges. We aren’t out of the woods completely (as is always the case), but a gentle touch down is looking increasingly likely.
