Lack of genuine reform is sowing seeds of next crisis

America is on the mend. Or is it? The world’s largest economy is certainly generating some upbeat headlines.

By Liam Halligan
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/comment/liamhalligan/10093500/Lack-of-genuine-reform-is-sowing-seeds-of-next-crisis.html

01 Jun 2013

The US housing market is at its most buoyant for seven years, with real estate prices up 10.9pc in March. That’s helped to drive consumer sentiment to a five-year high. Unemployment, too, is now 7.3pc – still painful, but its lowest level since December 2008.

Having said all that, official data last week showed America’s GDP expanding by 2.4pc in the first quarter of 2013. While strong compared with a moribund Western Europe, this was a downgrade on previous government estimates and still well below the pre-Lehman trend.