REALITY: Federal spending's contribution to total US GDP, peaked at the height of the federal stimulus program, then began to shrink, under the Obama Administration and Democratic control of Congress. Meanwhile, under Republican control of Congress and the Bush Administration, federal spending's contribution to the total US GDP continued to grow, nearly unabated every quarter.
MYTH #2: Federal spending crowded out private spending, resulting in lower economic expansion under the Obama Administration.
REALITY: Non-federal GDP recovered faster under the Obama Administration and Democratic control of Congress than under the Bush Administration and Republican control of Congress. In fact, the quarter immediately following the 2003 Bush tax cuts, GDP (minus federal spending) shrank. Sorry, but Q4-2011 data is not yet available.
MYTH #3: Employment suffered under the Obama Administration.
REALITY: Employment is often a lagging economic indicator -- something you yourself might ascertain after comparing the employment trend line to US GDP minus federal spending trend line. But you'll notice something fascinating in how employment recovered under the Obama Administration: it looks a lot like how the economy recovered under the Bush Administration.
I challenge anyone to make the case that, if banks, GM and Chrysler had been allowed to fail (and by fail, I mean liquidation), that the jobs number would have been BETTER than what actually occurred under Obama.
Republicans want you to believe that today, the economy is worse than it was at the height of the recession. It should be obvious that this isn't true.
Again, my simple proof that the economy is heating up (that is, until the Euro-crisis explodes), is the number of job listings in Craigslist. There are several hundred job listings a day, in Portland, OR CL. At the height of the recession, there were maybe a few dozen listings.
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