At least if you are in the war-making industrial business sector--or the bean-counting of the economy. Because, really, that's what accounts for a nice little hunk of this little spurt of allegedly "good" economic news.
As my friend Dean Baker at the Center for Economic and Policy Research points out in his "Data Flash" email:
GDP grew at a higher than expected 3.5 percent annual rate in the third quarter. The biggest factors in this growth were a 16.0 percent increase in defense spending, which added 0.66 percentage points to growth; an 11.0 percent increase in the export of goods, which added 0.99 percentage points to growth; and a 2.4 percent decrease in the import of goods, which added 0.34 percentage points to growth. In other categories, consumption grew at a modest 1.8 percent annual rate, while non-residential investment grew at a 5.5 percent rate.
The jump in defense spending is likely an anomaly which will be reversed in future quarters. Defense spending is always erratic and big movements are usually reversed in later quarters. The trade data are encouraging, but may be reversed as the dollar has strengthened in recent weeks, making U.S. goods less competitive.[emphasis added]
So, essentially, a about a fifth of the growth is tied to war-making--which is like cotton candy...
Though the country, of course, has always found new ways of making war. So, hey, you never know: the new political slogan, for either party, could be "War Is Good For Your Wallet". And that would fit perfectly, I reckon, for the presumed Democratic front-runner, and probably any of the Republicans.
So, while wages are still going nowhere, people are in debt and lots of people have given up looking for a decent job, no worries: bombs away!