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The United States government finally has something to be happy about. According to a survey by the Controllers Council of the Institute of Management Accountants, senior financial executives are confident that the economy will remain healthy through the first half of 1998. Executives at the more than 2,000 firms surveyed, expect employment at their companies to rise 3.5 percent through June 30.

Thomas Pugel, Professor of Economics at New York University, said that the Asian crisis will have a minimal effect on the U.S. economy."Along with most economists, I expect that we will see some exports to Asia, so that the growth rate of the U.S. economy will be a little lower," said Pugel.

James Kent, Assistant Professor of Public Administration at Marist College, is optimistic about the current state of the economy, but said that there are still some improvements to be made."Eventually something will have to be done about income and wealth distribution, however, or it will turn out that Karl Marx was right," he said.

Pugel also said that Asiaís overall effect on the U.S. economy depends largely on Japan."As long as Japan does not fall apart, I expect that the effect of the Asian crisis on the U.S. economy will continue to be small," he said.The suffering economy in Asia is a constant concern among business analysts.Kent said that the Asian crisis has already affected Americansí investment decisions."Depending on how things go in Japan and Korea, (and especially Taiwan, which is currently doing sort of okay), our export markets could be in danger," said Kent.

Pugel said that he does not think the U.S. has an obligation to help Asia."There is no particular obligation for the U.S. itself, but we might do something in our own interest to avoid a crisis in the global financial market," he said.Pugel said that the IMF is an important factor in determining Asiaís recovery from their economic status."The IMF is a multilateral organization that has the job of providing temporary financial assistance to countries that encounter international financial problems," he said. "So the IMF assistance is appropriate if the countries agree to the IMFís terms."

Scott Erickson, Assistant Professor of Management at Marist College, said that imports and exports with Asia are important aspects of the U.S. relationship with Asia."There will probably be some increase in imports to the U.S from Southeast Asia," he said.Erickson also said that certain improvements would have to be made in the economy."Improvements would include even less government regulation and attention to business matters such an antitrust, tobacco, etc., and more progress on international trade agreements," he said. Analysts expected the economy to have grown 3.3 percent in the first three months of the year.

Domestic demand and the labor market has been strong over recent months. Higher inflation, rather than a slowdown in the rate of growth, now poses the main danger to the flourishing economy.According to a Reuters on-line article, Roger Ferguson, Federal Reserve Governor, said that the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates to prevent the worldís top economy from overheating, unless Asiaís crisis lessens.

Pugel said that the Federal Reserveís warning would prove beneficial in the end."The Fed is committed to maintaining low inflation over the long term," he said. "They are very credible in this commitment, and the credibility probably helped to keep the inflation rate low because now we can expect on-going low inflation."The Federal Reserve has held interest rates steady for more than a year, and the key overnight federal funds rate stands at 5.5 percent.

Since President Bill Clinton has been under tremendous personal attack, one of his only saviors is the favorable economy.Erickson said that there are certain changes he would make in Clintonís past decision."More attention needs to be paid to getting fast-track negotiating on free trade agreements," he said.Kent, however, said that Clinton has had little effect, if any, on the economy."Presidents have remarkably little effect on the economy, no matter what they say or pretend," he said. "The best thing we can do at this point is to make sure that any budget surplus is used to one-time expenditures or revenue reductions"Pugel said that there are a couple of measures that Clinton could take to increase the economy even further."He could avoid any large tax cuts or large increase in government expenditures," he said.

As for the remainder of the year, analysts are positive about the immediate future of the economy.Pugel said that the next couple of years look positive."It is very hard to predict a future recession," he said. "Right now there is little indication of a recession for the next year or two."