Did Obama Do This: Economy Grows For First Time Since 2008
I expect there will be a lot of triumphant gloating on the left, and claims that the much-derided “stimulus” spending spree worked, thanks to this report today:
Oct. 29 (Bloomberg)—The U.S. economy grew in the third quarter for the first time in more than a year, propelled by stimulus-driven gains in consumer spending and home building.
The world’s largest economy expanded at a 3.5 percent pace from July through September, exceeding the median estimate of economists surveyed by Bloomberg News, after shrinking the previous four quarters, figures from the Commerce Department showed today in Washington. Household purchases climbed 3.4 percent, the most in more than two years.
Policy makers will now focus on whether the recovery, supported by federal assistance to the housing and auto industries, can be sustained into 2010 and generate jobs.
Here’s the problem: The Congressional Budget Office predicted way back in February that we’d see economic recovery by the end of the year even if the government did nothing. Of course, we all know the government did end up doing something. And that something added hundreds of billions of dollars to the budget deficit and the national debt.
And the CBO said that created debt, and the inevitable tax hikes that will go along with it, could well put us into a “double dip” recession. We may see some recovery now, but as soon as the price tag for all the government meddling in the economy comes due we’re going to be right back where we were at.
Everyone expected this end-of-the-year “recovery.” That still doesn’t mean Obamanomics have put us on the wrong track. With all the new deficit and debt they’ve created, and all the new government power over the economy they’ve used the economic down turn as an excuse to seize, we’re still very much on the wrong path.
