Obama or Romney, U.S. economy set to improve

No matter who wins the presidential election tomorrow, the economy is on course to enjoy faster growth in the next four years as the headwinds that have held it back turn into tailwinds. As Bloomberg reports, consumers are spending more and saving less after reducing household debt to the lowest since 2003. Home prices are rebounding after falling more than 30% from their 2006 highs. And banks are increasing lending after boosting equity capital by more than $300 billion since 2009. “The die is cast for a much stronger recovery,” says Mark Zandi, chief economist for Moody’s Analytics Inc. in West Chester, Penn. He sees growth this year and next at about 2% before doubling to around 4% in both 2014 and 2015 as consumption, construction and hiring all pick up. The big proviso, according to Zandi and Yale University professor Ray Fair, is how either Barack Obama or Mitt Romney tackles the task of shrinking the $1.1 trillion federal-budget deficit. The Congressional Budget Office has warned that the United States will suffer a recession if more than $600 billion in scheduled government-spending reductions and tax increases—the so-called fiscal cliff—take effect next year. Get more details in the full story here.