The stock market has jumped over the past few days, retail sales and confidence data, while weak, have come in better than expected (when economists start erring toward overpessimism from overoptimism, that's a very good sign), and Citibank has said some right things, surprisingly. We are indeed in at or already past an inflection point. But what of the future? A big problem still remains: government policy remains a significant damper on investment with a key question being, how much will Washington alter the business climate in the U.S. and reduce the after-tax rate of return investors can expect on their investments. That's the ultimate question, and will help determine whether the future recovery will be L-, U- or V-shaped.
