U.S. SET FOR FRACKING BONANZA.

If there’s been one consistent thread running through the U.S. economic story since 2008, it’s been the steady drumbeat of gloom.

Outright recession or sub-standard growth, stubbornly high unemployment and fiscal crises have been the topics du jour when it comes to the world’s biggest economy.

But now an unlikely champion for U.S. growth under the Obama administration has emerged — a former adviser to a Republican Party presidential candidate and Harvard history professor, Niall Ferguson, who says America could actually be heading toward a new economic “golden age.”

And it has nothing to do with Washington and everything to do with energy.

Unless Washington manages to screw it up. Which is probably the way to bet . . . .