[lbo-talk] Is the US or another economy "producing close to capacity"?

[Eugene Coyle]

I saw this sentence


> As a result, most advanced economies are once again producing at close to capacity.

in a Project Syndicate essay today.

	https://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/case-against-monetary-helicopter-drops-by-michael-heise-2016-04?utm_source=Project+Syndicate+Newsletter&utm_campaign=33a87ada8d-Aslund_OP_4_24_2016&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_73bad5b7d8-33a87ada8d-93681517

I have seen a version of it often in recent months.  From esteemed economists.

It doesn’t seem to me to comport to reality.  Can you name an industry in the US that
is producing “close to capacity”?  If you can, do you extrapolate that to most or all industries?

Related to my question is the acceptance espoused by esteemed economists that we are at
full employment, at around 5.0%.  Is the US close or at full employment?

Gene