Sometimes it is difficult to gain perspective. That is why it may be difficult to see the forest for the trees. It is as we spend most of our time climbing a mountain: One handhold and foothold at a time. Immediacy and urgency limit our peripheral and forward visions. The end of the first expansion since the Great Financial Crisis may be drawing close. There is a concern among officials and investors that the tools that would be needed to counter a downturn may be compromised by the inability to normalize monetary policy in the upswing and the limited political will to use fiscal policy (see EMU, Japan's sales tax ... (full story)