The high growth and innovation that have been the hallmarks of the nation's economy for the past two decades are coming to an end, Wells Fargo Senior Economist Eugenio Aleman tells the Silicon Valley / San Jose Business Journal.
His prediction has profound implications for the global economy over the next decade, according to the paper.
"Forget about everything you have become accustomed to during the last 20 years, because things are going to be very different going forward," Aleman cautions in a report being distributed to Wells Fargo clients. "Today, we are witnessing the start of a new era for the U.S. economy and U.S. businesses, an era that will be very different from the 1990s and early 2000s, because the effects of the knowledge revolution have started to hit a wall. And this wall has a name: the U.S. consumer."