Debt Burden to Weigh on Stocks Consumers' Inability to Drive Economic Growth Likely to End Big
• WSJSince Americans are BROKE here is a thought stop LOOTING them to pay for Foreign Aid and Socialist programs! Economists are boosting growth forecasts. Employment numbers are improving. Manufacturing activity is bottoming. Housing demand is strengthening. Business leaders are starting to say the worst may be over. Markets are celebrating, hoping the good news will keep on coming. But there is a smudge on the picture. A surprisingly large number of money managers and economists are warning that, despite the hopeful signs, the economy is still deep in the woods, not strong enough to support a long-running stock and bond recovery. The Dow Jones Industrial Average now has jumped 43% from the 12-year low hit March 9. It finished Friday at 9370.07, its highest close since Nov. 4. Risky credit investments, such as junk bonds and even mortgage-backed securities, also have been recovering. "The question now is, 'Where do we go from here?' " John Osterweis, chief investment