The Economy Disappoints Again. What Could Be the Problem?

As you probably have already seen, the Commerce Department announced today that GDP contracted by an annual rate of 0.7% in the first quarter of 2015, a downward revision from the previously estimated 0.2% growth. This continues a pattern that many observers find puzzling and disappointing. This graphic shows quarterly GDP growth from the first quarter of 2009 to the present; the last bar would need to be changed to -.7%. Click to enlarge:

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The pattern isn’t hard to spot. The recession ostensibly ended after the second quarter of 2009, but ever since, whenever the economy starts to grow, it falls back. The Wall Street Journal notes:

The economy has now contracted in three separate quarters since the recession ended in mid-2009, a series of disappointments unmatched since the expansions of the 1950s.

The administration always offers excuses for the economy’s inadequate performance on its watch–most recently, cold weather–but the common denominator is an anti-business, anti-growth administration that spends too much, wastes too much, incurs too much debt, and imposes too many costly regulations. Michael Ramirez has the right idea; click to enlarge:

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