According to the talking heads on my TV set, the U.S. economy has gone to hell in a handbasket, and nothing short of regime change in Washington will turn it around. Bad Santa is here to stay, and he's mad as hell.

Really?

Well, not according to the National Retail Federation (NRF). In fact, two weeks ago NRF revised its holiday forecast upward (from 2.8 percent), predicting that holiday sales would rise 3.8 percent this year to a record $469.1 billion -- considerably above the ten-year average sales increase of 2.6 percent. Not too bad for an economy that has gone to hell in a handbasket.

If you're a business owner or executive, then you've got reason to be hopeful. It appears that the economy is slowly but steadily improving -- despite what some prognosticators would have you believe.

And that is the best gift ever for any businessperson.