We don't really know whether the economy is strong or not. It's being measured mostly by INFLATION, being claimed as "growth".
I'd agree there. Trucking tonnage is down, yet dollars are up. Wal-Mart's growth category is Food. We are buying 6% more food from them than last year. I don't think we are eating more food, I just think the food just costs 6% more. That's "growth" for ya.
The US economy is doing piss poor. In fact, havent consumers made up 70% of the economy since the tech bubble popped? The US offshored a lot of good paying jobs overseas leaving Americans with mainly service sector jobs. Now whatever jobs created by the housing bubble will disappear and what will be left - pretty much nothing but retail, healthcare, other crappy paying jobs.