Hiring was cautious in October. Aside from companies not being able to operate because of the hurricanes, many businesses might have been in a state of suspense as they assessed damage to their operations and to the economy that might have resulted from these storms.

We've given the auto industry steroids, and we might be looking at a period of withdrawal as auto companies wean themselves from these stimulants,

While companies have bigger stacks of chips to play with, they still remain hesitant to put many of them into the pot.

It's not what we'd like to see.

We seem to be continuing to defy these natural limits of the economic cycle and we should be able to push forward at a decent pace in the second half without risking inflation,

We've been able to achieve great things amid great challenges- including the stock market crash of 1987, the bursting of the stock bubble in 2000, two wars and the September 11, 2001, terror attacks. Alan Greenspan might be thought of as our most valuable economic player.