The U.S. economy grew at a 5 percent annual rate from July through September, its fastest pace in more than a decade, the Department of Commerce announced today, revising up its previous estimate of 3.9 percent. Meanwhile, spring wasn’t so bad either: Real gross domestic product expanded at 4.6 rate during April through June. That, combined with our strong recent jobs reports, suggests the economy is finally taking off after all these disappointing post-recession years. (That said, we’re all still waiting to see some significant wage growth).



Plus, as Matt Yglesias points out, the U.S. has gotten another boost of late from plunging oil prices, which most economists believe will give another jolt of energy to consumers who won’t have to spend so much on gas for their cars. That means there’s every reason to expect fourth quarter GDP to be strong as well.