The lede from today’s WSJ lead editorial today: “The American economy is a wonderful engine of prosperity left to its own devices and on Tuesday it proved it again with another surge in equity prices...” Discuss and debate.

My take: the economy so far has performed better --- in aggregate -- than I would have thought in the absence of additional relief and amid the virus surge. Certainly, some underlying strength and flexibility is at work. That said...

It's hard to divorce the strength of the economy from exceptionally easy monetary policy and massive, historic fiscal relief. So it is a "wonderful engine of prosperity" but has not been "left to its own devices." Moreso...

The economic effects of both waning fiscal relief and the surge could be in the future, including state budget cuts. And positive aggregate results mask extreme hardship among average Americans and their families that should and could still be addressed through additional aid.