More specifically, in the United States growth remained robust, expanding at an annual rate of 2.0% in the first quarter of 2018, having increased by 2.9% in the fourth quarter of 2017. Growth in 2017 marked the eighth successive year of positive growth in the United States, compared with four consecutive years of positive growth in the euro area.
I think this argument only touches the surface. In a book I wrote in 1992, I mentioned that the many distortions in our system restrained enterprises’ real costs and distorted the relation between cost and profit. Also, enterprises took over  BIS Review 4/2006  1  responsibilities that should not have been theirs.