The economic picture for 2002 is somewhat hazy. Many variables - including retail sales, consumer confidence, the unemployment rate, and stock market valuations - moved rapidly and changed direction suddenly during the closing months of 2001. However, it seems that the groundwork is in place for an economic recovery sometime in 2002.The long economic expansion of the 1990s kicked off in late 1991; except for a brief troublesome spell in 1994, the U.S. economy, and the economies of most of the industrialized countries of the world, continued to grow aggressively - with much of the growth attributed to increase in productivity - through the first part of 2000.
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