Seems like a good time to post this topic.
QE3 has ended. The USD has (at least in the moment) gone higher and might continue. The Dow is back over 17K and might go still further if traders are feeling good. Minimum wage jobs are briefly increasing (and seniors have to pay the bills somehow). The Republicans might possibly take back congress.
The US economy is appearing to expand, but is that a mirage?
Non-workers are at an all time high. Half the economy is dependent on welfare checks and food stamps distributed by the USG on borrowed dollars. There are early signs of new weakness in the housing market and non-government construction industry. The price of oil has caused the US oil boom to go on hold, layoffs underway, and the new rush in oil shale is in danger of collapsing.
Something will burst. What will it be, and when? And will it burst the adjacent bubbles and result in a crash, or will "they" be able to contain it?
I predict QE4 will restart (even if under the table) to support new market highs, the DOW will go past 20K, but will be unsustainable as other countries abandon the USD and the bubble burst will start in late 2015, leading to a 2016 crash and blame for the new Republican congress, which will result in a Democrat taking the Presidency again in 2016 and a landslide loss for the Republicans and re-entrenchment of the country into a new and even more pervasive type of socialism.
What's your prediction?