3 Economic Themes For The Second Half

America is getting good at muddling through.

That was the economy's disheartening growth story in the first half of 2011. Things may not look much different in the second half.

It's hard to concede as much, this being the world's largest economy. We don't want to muddle. We want to soar, like in the old days.

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke doesn't want the U.S. to be doomed to muddling, which is why he had the Fed create $600 billion from thin air in the last seven months to buy more Treasury bonds.