Sunday, December 22, 2019

Horsecrap from The Washington Free Beacon: "The economy is gangbusters" when it's actually underperforming the post-war by over 50%


Through 3Q2019 the US economy over the last ten years as measured by the compound annual growth rate from 3Q2009 and using the government's own gross domestic product measure known as GDPC1 is underperforming the previous 62 year period from 3Q1947 until 3Q2009 by 29.39%.

We're growing at 2.33% now vs. 3.3% then, and that calculation removes the worst of the 2008 debacle from the now column and puts it in the then column.

If we measured as we really ought to from the previous peak in 4Q2007 and included the downturn in the now column, the picture is much much worse.

To keep it simple the full 12 years from 3Q2007 through 3Q2019 (third estimate just reported) comes in at a miserable 1.67% vs. the previous 60 year period at 3.47%. In other words, this so-called gangbusters economy is really underperforming the post-war by 51.87%.

We're not even half as good as we used to be.

The only thing that is going gangbusters right now is Trump cheerleaders from Andy Puzder to Rush Limbaugh and all the usual idiots in between trying to make a silk purse out of a sow's ear.

Thinking Americans are not fooled.