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Wednesday, October 06, 2010

SBE Council Chief Economist on IMF Growth Outlook

Raymond J. Keating, chief economist for the Small Business & Entrepreneurship Council (SBE Council), issued the following statement on the IMF’s growth outlook released today:

“Obviously, no one should be surprised that the IMF says the economic recovery remains ‘fragile’ and ‘uneven.’ One can add in slowing as well for advanced economies. Relative to its July projections, the IMF’s new predictions for U.S. growth were moved down from 3.3% to 2.6% for 2010, and from 2.9% to 2.3% for 2011.

“Given the government assault on the U.S. economy over the past nearly three years, it would be quite an achievement on the part of entrepreneurs and businesses if the U.S. were to reach the latest IMF growth projections. Quite simply, massive increases in government spending, big bailouts, hyper-regulation such as on the health care and finance fronts, tax increases – both passed and threatened – and no advancements in terms of free trade, have combined to establish one of the most anti-growth policy environments in the U.S. in decades.

“Until policy shifts in a dramatically different direction in the U.S., economic growth promises not just to be fragile and uneven, but under-performing for as far as the eye can see.”

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