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Economy: Disappointing GDP growth of 2.4% in the second quarter signals that our "recovery" isn't what it's cracked up to be. But then, how could it be when politicians have been trying to kill it for years?
How do you keep an economy from digging itself out of a major recession? One surefire method is massively expanding a government whose major programs are already on their way to bankruptcy, then sitting idly by as major tax increases arrive.
The Democratic Congress has spent a trillion dollars on a failed Keynesian stimulus that promised millions of jobs that never materialized. They added a massive new entitlement in the form of a government takeover of health care when the entitlements already burdening us are going broke. And they are letting the Bush tax cuts expire at the end of this year.
Why in such a chancy economic environment would investors invest? Why would entrepreneurs take risks? And why would businesses expand and hire new employees? By extension, why would consumers spend?
The normally cautious Conference Board reacted to the tepid second quarter figure by warning that "The post-recession rebound is history." And its forecast was for GDP to "slow even more markedly, to a 1.6% annualized rate in the second half of the year."
The tepid new 2.4% figure follows 3.7% GDP growth in the first quarter of 2010, and 5% growth in last year's fourth quarter.
But the Associated Press's quarterly survey of 42 private, corporate and academic economists, released just last week, finds the numbers crunchers worried on a number of fronts.
The lack of jobs and sinking real estate values mean people are saving for a rainy day, not spending, with one measure of savings hitting its highest level in over a decade.
Also, a majority of the economists don't expect unemployment to fall back down to the historically typical 5% level until 2015 or later.
Excuse us, but where on earth did that trillion dollars in job-creating stimulus go?
It is under these scary conditions that the Bush tax cuts are about to expire. Deutsche Bank last week warned its clients of the "worst-case scenario, allowing the Bush tax cuts to expire" accompanied by failing to fix the Alternative Minimum Tax could mean a 1.5% "fiscal drag in 2011 on top of the 1% fiscal drag we expect to occur as the Obama fiscal stimulus package unwinds."
That, the mega-bank concluded, could possibly be enough to "push the economy to a stalling point."
Growth: China claims it has just passed Japan as the world's No. 2 economy, and it's beating its chest loudly about the fact. But, as impressive as its new status may be, it still deserves a bit of perspective. We've heard about this being the Chinese Century, with the U.S. soon to be ...
Taxes: While the oil and gas companies are bearing the brunt of taxation, regulation and environmental angst, others are doing just fine, thank you. If you think cap-and-trade is dead, just follow the money. According to a recently released Center for Responsive Politics review of reports ...
Warfare: Now that the Taliban are scouring WikiLeaks for names of allies to kill from a trove of stolen U.S. documents, the White House is begging the site not to publish more. It should make WikiLeaks an enemy target. The horror we feared would happen is here. Friday, the New York Times ...
The Internet is a large-scale version of the "Committees of Correspondence" that led to the first American Revolution — and with Washington's failings now so obvious and awful, it may lead to another. People are asking, "Is the government doing us more harm than good? Should we change what it ...
Recent polls show that more than 70% of the public holds an unfavorable view of Congress. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., wins about a 10% approval rating; Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., has similarly rock-bottom poll numbers. Why this astounding — and growing — disdain ...
Posted By: katydid(75) on 7/31/2010 | 2:49 AM ET
The rest of the world knows we are being dragged down by political policy. They know we are being set up, sold out and can't understand (but can only fear) why those gutsy Americans can't stop the bleeding.
Posted By: C400Pilot(525) on 7/31/2010 | 12:04 AM ET
How much of the GDP growth is merely the EXPLOSIVE growth of government spending?
Posted By: paplagr(145) on 7/30/2010 | 9:34 PM ET
Hey odbumbo? Your grand plan is failing faster than shet through a goose. Moron!!
Posted By: jpdwn(1230) on 7/30/2010 | 8:24 PM ET
We're Evan Bayh,Ben Nelson and Blance Lincoln and we're all for small businesses and extending the Bush tax cuts. That's why we all voted for the Health Reform and Financial Reform bills that are soo beneficial to small businesses and, if pushed by our leadership, we'll vote for Cap and Trade which will also be really good for you. Now we may not be able to prevent the Bush tax cuts from expiring, but we'll gosh darn try to. So vote for us - we're really conservative Democrats.
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