Relevant and even prescient commentary on news, politics and the economy.

1970s stagnation

I keep seeing references to the 1970’s stagnation that reflect a consensus belief that real GDP growth in the 1970s was significantly lower in the 1970s than in the 1980s.   But this is contrary to the data:   REAL GDP GROWTH( % )   1970…0.21……..1980…-0.04 1971….3.29……..1981….2.58 1972….5.25……..1982…-1.91 1973…..5,64…….1983….4.63 1974….-0.52…….1984….7.26 1975….-0.20…….1985…..4.24 1976….5.34………1986…..3.51 1977…..4.61………1987…..3.46 1978…..5.56………1988….4.20 1979……3.18………1979….3.68 […]

GDP Growth Caused By Tax Cuts Has Never Happened

Mike’s post here got me thinking.  I’ll telegraph my conclusion.  He dramatically understated his case. You can see the long range view of nominal and inflation adjusted GPD growth in Graph 1 of FRED quarterly YoY percent change data. Graph 1 YoY growth Nominal and Inflation Adjusted GDP Nominal GDP Growth was in a secular […]

Texas Again: Which Rick Does More Harm?

That Rick Perry is a clueless candidate and skilled campaigner is something for Barack Obama’s minions to suffer.* That Perry’s curiosity goes no further than “Where’s My Next Corndog?” cannot be held against him; he only became what they made him, just as his predecessor did, though with a poorer transcript and lack of his […]

Euro area GDP report: unbalanced

Today Eurostat released their estimate of Euro area growth for the first quarter of 2011. The economy grew smartly, or 0.8% on the quarter on a seasonally- and working day- adjusted basis. On the face of it, Euro area growth, which is 3.3% on an annualized basis, dwarfs the 1.8% seen in the US economy. […]

Four Graphs Looking at Real Economic Growth

by Mike Kimel Four Graphs Looking at Real Economic Growth This post contains four graphs looking at real economic growth, three of which also contain some tax information. The first graph shows the five year annualized growth in real GDP for every five year period beginning the one ending in 1934. (I begin then simply […]