U.S. economy grew at blistering pace during final months of 1993. (Brief Article)

The economy was even stronger at year-end 1993 than we had initially believed. Instead of a 5.9 percent gain in Gross Domestic Product (GDP)-- the none-too-shabby figure originally estimated by government economists -- we're now told by the Commerce Department that real economic growth in last year's fourth quarter was a sizzling 7.5 percent.

This was the best quarterly performance for the U.S. economy since the first quarter of 1984, and it evoked memories of a white-hot economic environment that many economists doubted that we'd see again this century. Some of this momentum carried over into 1994. However, there …