Is the Second Recession Bush’s Fault, Too?
Saturday, August 21st, 2010Months ago, when the Q4 GDP numbers came out, the Obama administration touted how their stimulus bill had pulled the country back from the brink of a new Great Depression. The Q4 GDP was 5.7 percent annual growth rate, a strong showing.
After seeing first time unemployment applications jump to 500,000 this week and with Q2 GDP getting revised downward again to an anemic 2.4 and poised to be revised downward again to possibly 1.4 percent, it’s obvious that the economy is slowing mightily, possibly slowing enough to bring us into a second recession.
The reality of it is that President Obama’s policies and legislation are dragging the economy down.
People have said that there are too many unknowns for businesses, which is leading to job creators to sit on the sidelines. A legitimate argument can be made for that, especially with it being unknown whether the Bush tax cuts will expire or whether they’ll pass Cap and Trade or Card Check. These obviously weigh heavily on the minds of entrepreneurs.
Still, I’m certain that a potent argument can be made that employers aren’t jumping in because they know that labor cost are too expensive. They know that the cost of compliance with the financial regulations bill will be expensive. Ditto with Obamacare. It’s to the point that Democrat pollsters and strategists are telling their candidates not to tout the main talking points about Obamacare: (more…)