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As end of Fed’s ‘free money’ nears, consumers still likely to spend

December 16, 2015

Judged by how long it has been going on, the current U.S. economic expansion should be on its last legs, but the mood in this rebounding heartland auto town would not show it.

Fiat Chrysler Automobiles has doubled its local workforce to 7,000 amid record industry sales, upscale apartments are being built or tucked into vacant factories, and new small businesses are opening along a quaint Main Street.

As the Federal Reserve meets to begin a likely turn towards higher interest rates, the buzz in places such as Kokomo is one reason policymakers think the U.S. recovery has room to run. This city of 57,000 was hit hard by the recession, but the dynamic developing here is one the Fed sees nationally: more jobs gradually translating into higher wages, and wage growth translating into spending

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