This report, titled “How robust was the 2001-2007 Economic Expansion“, created by Aviva Aron-Dine, Chad Stone, & Richard Kogan puts the scale of the expansion into the context of previous annual growth rates, specifically reflecting the current expansion against post-war averages, and the 1990′s. In all cases, except corporate profits, it fell short. Most measures by more than 25%. Even during the peak growth rate in the measured period.
Now, what caused the dramatic retraction, and why is it being blamed on Obama by some 8% of a poll disclosed by MSNBC. It is troubling that someone would think that Obama could possibly be the cause of the problem since the retraction started in 2007, and hit full steam in 2008. I argue that it started earlier, around 2003, but that is because I believe that government spending on military actions should not be counted in GDP because it is a pure expense, where materials are spent on explosives, bullets, and support that is not recovered including tanks, and support equipment that is lost during combat operations.
More to come…