We fondly remember the old Abbott and Costello routine “Two Tens For A Five.” Fondly, because the routine was funny, but also because fifty years ago it was just a comedy routine and not government policy. Two tens for a five would be a huge improvement over what’s actually happened:
The Federal government borrowed and spent $5.1 trillion over the past four years to generate a cumulative $700 billion increase in the nation’s GDP. That means we’ve borrowed and spent $7.28 for every $1 of nominal “growth” in GDP.
We hate bad-news good-news jokes, especially when the punch line is “there is no good news.” This is one of those occasions:
In constant dollars, GDP is flat: we got no growth at all for our $5.1 trillion: zip, zero, nada. In constant dollars, the GDP in 2011 might return to the 2007 level, if the economy continues “growing” at the same pace reached in the first three months of 2011. If not, then the GDP will actually be lower than pre-recession levels.
We’re glad to find out it wasn’t just our imagination that last year’s vaunted “Recovery Summer” seemed like a typical summer in Anchorage – both lasted about a day. And we have noticed the “unexpected” change in the Democrat and media (yes, still the same thing) rhetoric from “good times are a’ comin” to “things could be worse.”
Unfortunately, we are compelled to add “and thanks to that mountain of useless debt, they will be.”
– Written by Bonfire of the Absurdities
Source: Charles Hugh Smith
