Is The US Economy Really Bulgaria in Disguise? Evidence from Housing, GDP and Employment

Confounded Interest ^ | 01/19/2013 | Anthony B. Sanders

[whitedog57]

US News had this cheerleading article for President Obama’s second inauguration called “Obama’s Inauguration Present: The Economic Recovery Is Finally Here”

“When Congress pumped billions of dollars of stimulus spending into the economy, it sputtered and wheezed like a patient having a heart attack. Now that Congress is raising taxes and cutting back on stimulus measures, the economy seems more resilient than expected. For President Barack Obama, it could mean a much more durable economy over the next four years than he enjoyed in his first term.”

The Great Recession, according to the NBER, ended in June 2009, less than six months after President Obama took office. Real GDP growth remains very “European” (sub 2%). It is now January 2013 and we are still stuck in the economic doldrums.

In fact, US economic growth is not much better than the EU poverty leader Bulgaria at 0.9% (although Bulgaria has had considerably higher real GDP growth prior to 2009).

Bulgarian unemployment is rising and is wedged between US unemployment and U6 unemployment/partial employment.

Even Bulgarian house prices suffered during the Great Recession and have stabilized.

Much like US house prices.

Given the USA’s massive (and growing) government debt, we are more like the larger Japan in many ways.

And Japan’s employment to population ratio bears a striking resemblance to the USA after 2009.

To be fair, The Federal Reserve Board of Governors predicts that real GDP growth in the US will rise to 2.65% in 2013 and 3.25% in 2014.

I would have worded the article to say “IN SPITE OF rising taxes and negative impacts of the (Un)Affordable Health Care legislation (aka, Obamacare), The Fed thinks that real GDP growth will rise to below the average growth rate for Bulgaria (3.87% since 1997).”

Apparently Rick Newman, the designated Administration cheerleader for US News, thinks emulating poverty stricken Bulgaria is the way to go.

I applaud Bulgaria’s struggles to overcome Socialism (as the US veers rapidly towards it). It is a hard road to recovery, particularly when you are left with Soviet era monuments like this:

[whitedog57]

The picture at the end is hilarious and reminds me of the calls to have Obama sculpted into Mt Rushmore. LOL!

[HangnJudge]

USA recovering?...

And the worst of all...

[Mr. Jeeves]

We are borrowing a trillion dollars a year out of thin air and using it to maintain the illusion of property - preventing those politically disastrous images from the 1930's of breadlines and unemployed hobos from saturating the airwaves.

Maybe we can keep it up until the next great wave, based on cheap energy or some breakthrough in nanotechnology, generates so much excess wealth that the borrowed trillions end up looking minuscule by comparison.

Thing is, you kind of need a non-fascist Administration and a liberty-focused Congress to pull that off.

[familyop]

Leadership in politics, business and academia has become culturally Bulgarian.