Last night, the Yankees season mercifully came to an end with a pathetic 3-0 loss to that perennial baseball powerhouse, the Houston Astros. At first, I thought I had wasted my time dutifully watching the Bronx Bombers finish off one of their worst stretches of baseball in my memory. But then I realized that the Yankee season is actually an apt metaphor for the state of the U.S. economy. Humor me on this one.

Yesterday, I attended the first day of the 2015 Northeast Economic Forum. After pondering the presentations, the central question that I am left with is whether happy days are here again or, when it comes to the economy, is this as good as it gets?

On paper, the Yankees are an impressive ball club. They were among the leaders in runs batted in, for example, and they had one of the best bull pens in baseball. Similarly, in some ways our economy is downright impressive; it’s growing, and at a rate much faster than our international peers. The unemployment rate is declining, and there is some indication that this economic growth is leading to moderately higher wages. Furthermore, the country is actually experiencing a longer than usual economic expansion.

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