The Coming American Renaissance: How to Benefit from America's Economic Resurgence

Commerce Department adviser Moynihan (nephew of Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan) believes the U.S. is in the midst of a broad-based economic revival. Favorable signs, in his assessment, include increased productivity, the revival of traditional manufacturing, a resurgent auto industry and a federal deficit that is comparatively low by international standards. In the near future, he predicts, huge numbers of American workers will telecommute; exurbs--counties reanimated by high-tech businesses and intimately tied to nearby cities--will outpace suburbs in growth; trade of services (not of goods) will become more local and less global, benefiting the service-oriented U.S. economy; work will become more knowledge-intensive. Extrapolating from these trends, Moynihan offers personal, practical advice: work for or invest in industries that will thrive; buy or build a home equipped for telecommuting; relocate to regions that will fare the best, especially the West and the South. A bracing antidote to alarmist thinking, his optimistic primer will be useful primarily for its quick synopses of dozens of industries, from fast food to machine tools, and of specific locales ranging from Charlotte, N.C., to Seattle. (Aug.)