By Susan Duclos
This is one historical landmark the mainstream media hasn't been touting for Barack Obama because previously Obama's so-called economic "recovery" has been called the weakest and feeblest since the Great Depression, but now GDP growth, as of the just completed quarter, is officially the slowest recovery in US history, according to the charts from the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. (H/T Zero Hedge)
The charts will be embedded below the post, they show the highest (best), the lowest (worst) average and the dark green line is the current recovery.
Real Gross Domestic Product, Real Personal Consumption Expenditures, and Real Government Consumption Expenditures and Gross Investment, Obama's so-called recovery has fallen below the worst recovery in history. Real Imports Good and Services is shown to be below average.
There are only two areas in which growth is above average, one of which is Real Gross Private Domestic Investment.
Gross private domestic investment is the official government measure of investment expenditures undertaken by the business sector. It seeks to quantify that portion of gross domestic product that is purchased by the business sector and which is used, in theory at least, for investment and the acquisition of capital goods. These expenditures purchase a wide range of capital goods, from factories to socket wrenches, from delivery trucks to nuclear power plants, from office buildings to copy machines.
The business sector is one of the only two areas showing above average growth, keeping the economy afloat. The very same people targeted by the Obama administration for higher taxes. The same people who say, as of January 25, 2013, that healthcare costs (54%) and taxes on small businesses (53%) are hurting their operating environment "a lot," making these the top two concerns among eight issues tested in a January Wells Fargo/Gallup Small Business survey. They are followed by the price of energy, government regulations, and the federal debt ceiling.
U.S. small-business owners are clearly concerned about how healthcare costs are affecting their companies. These worries are likely tied -- at least in part -- to the implementation of the Affordable Care Act and its potential impact. Small-business owners are trying to keep their workforces under 50 employees so they are exempted from key parts of the act and in this regard are reducing employee hours so they are not counted as full time.
More, reported by The Hill:
Nearly three quarters of small businesses say government regulations are taking a toll on their bottom lines, a new poll shows.
The Wells Fargo/Gallup survey found 72 percent of small businesses reported that regulations were hurting their “operating environment." Broken down further, 46 percent said regulations were hurting “a lot” and another 26 percent said they were hurting “a little,” according to the poll.
The only other area the charts show as above average is Real Exports of Goods and Services:
Exports of goods and services represent the value of all goods and other market services provided to the rest of the world. They include the value of merchandise, freight, insurance, transport, travel, royalties, license fees, and other services, such as communication, construction, financial, information, business, personal, and government services. They exclude compensation of employees and investment income (formerly called factor services) and transfer payments.
Charts embedded below:
US GDP Growth Charts
