Santa May Get Sacked by Grumpy Consumer

"Either way it goes, some people are going to be happy, some people are going to be unhappy," says Daugherty. "But just having a sense that there's a government again with a strategy is going to give people confidence. Not only do we have a lame duck, we have the lamest duck there's ever been."

Daugherty notes that while many economists predict a moderate-to-severe U.S. recession, the country has rebounded quickly and aggressively from downturns of the past. Most were eight to 10 months, he says, while the deep recession of the 1970s lasted about a year and a half.

"They don't last forever," says Daugherty. "People sort of get in the mindset that we'll be in this for the rest of our lives, but it never turns out that way."