Last month, the government was partially shut down for 16 days at a cost of $24 billion and we came within two days of running out of money to meet our debt obligations. The current government funding will run out in January. The American people and the wider world are skeptical that the US will be able to get its fiscal house in order.

But setting aside political brinkmanship, can we objectively analyze how the country is doing financially? Rather than looking at debt figures or dollars spent in a vacuum, we need to also judge the US economy on a relative basis. After all, businesses sit in markets, which means…

Read the full article on Hbr.org where it originally appeared.