Search This Blog

Friday, July 30, 2010

SBE Council Chief Economist on Latest GDP Numbers

Raymond J. Keating, chief economist for the Small Business & Entrepreneurship Council (SBE Council), issued the following statement on the latest GDP numbers:

"The latest GDP numbers continue to tell a rather grim economic story. Real GDP growth of 2.4% in the second quarter showed not only an under-performing economy, but one in which GDP growth is slowing over the past three quarters. Most worrisome, after factoring out the government sector, real private GDP grew by a pathetic 1.5%.

"However, the few positives came in real private investment and on the trade front, which provides some hope for further economic improvement looking ahead. Unfortunately, private investment and entrepreneurship have to battle against a public policy agenda that works specifically against risk taking, growth and job creation.

"It must be pointed out that 2007 to 2009 marked the worst three-year performance by the U.S. economy since the steep recession as the nation emerged from the Second World War. In fact, over the past decade, real annual U.S. economic growth averaged a mere 1.8% compared to a post-WWII average of 3.3%. Unfortunately, under Obama-nomics, which features huge increases in government spending, taxes and regulation, no reason exists to expect the U.S. economy to get back on a high-growth track. If the nation's policy agenda is not turned around in a more pro-growth, smaller-government direction, we should expect little different over the coming decade than what we experienced over the last decade. Indeed, it should be worse."

1 comment:

The Trend People said...

Thanks for telling it like it is, even though the news is grim. We're hoping this administration's economic forecasters may know something we don't... and that we don't face any major and costly crises for awhile.

Well done. Nice use of stats without overwhelming your piece with numbers.