The 22 July 2013 Wall St. Journal headlined "Growth Outlook Stuck in Neutral." It reports how slightly rosier economic predictions earlier in the year are proving to be too optimistic. It notes that the expected Second Quarter growth has been downgraded to a mere 1.5%, down from an expectation one month earlier that it would grow at an annualized rate of 1.9%. Recall, as I often point out, that since population growth is about 1% a year, real per capita GDP growth is about 1% less than the real GDP growth. Consequently, the Second Quarter growth projection is actually only 0.5% in terms of an improved standard of living and in terms of serving employers to think about hiring. Of course employers are mostly converting people to part time jobs thanks to ObamaCare, so most new hires are a downgrade from a full-time job somewhere to a part time job somewhere else. This in turn has caused a sudden decrease in retail spending to only 0.4% in June, which is really -0.6% when corrected for population growth. Worries are rising that the second half of 2013 will not live up to earlier expectations also.
Once again, the expectations of the Obama administration, or at least its and its media running dogs public announcements, have proven wrong on predictions of an improving economy. In fact, Obama is wrong for the fifth time out of five such claims. The man and his supporters are remarkably consistent in being wrong. This, of course, comes from being remarkably wrongheaded in their aims and in their understanding of the economy. Strangely enough, it proves impractical to thwart the economic rights of individual entrepreneurs. Who could ever have imagined that!
The recoveries of 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, and now of 2013 have all collapsed. But Americans, just keep going on about your business and keep that faith in Hope and Change, and love that Obama smile. Keep moving on. There is nothing to see here.
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