ABE VAN HELSING COULDN'T KILL THE VOLCKER/REAGAN EXPANSION:

Contra the Recessionistas: The recession that never was seems to be over. (Jerry Bowyer, 5/06/08, National Review)

The problem with the recessionistas is that for the past five years they’ve been wrong. And now, right when their recession cries were reaching fever pitch, it appears as though they’re going to be wrong again.

Monday’s data from the Institute for Supply Management is our first real glimpse at the second quarter of 2008 — you now, the one we’re in now. The above chart shows that the service sector — which is by far a better guide to the ebbs and flows of our economy than the manufacturing one — bottomed in January and has been recovering steadily ever since. It is now at an expansionary 52 percent. (Anything above 50 is positive growth territory.)