Amy Traub

Newsflash: The Economy is Actually Doing Great

Another day, another McCain economic advisor insisting that the economy is doing great. This Sunday it was Donald Luskin writing in the Washington Post. The economic doom and gloom, Luskin insists, is largely a media fabrication. In fact, the nation may be "on the brink... of accelerating prosperity." Hold onto your hats!

How do we know the economy is doing dandy? Luskin cheerfully notes that the nation's GDP has continued to grow at a respectable 3.3% rate. Unfortunately, he's overlooking one minor detail. As economist Dean Baker points out, it took the full force of a $160 billion federal stimulus package to attain that growth rate. Unless the taxpayers have another comparable stimulus in the hopper, we're looking at somewhat less sunny times ahead.

Check out the rest of Baker's evisceration of the Luskin economic argument and then peek at DMI's latest publication, a by-the-numbers view of the U.S. economy as it's actually being lived by current and aspiring middle-class Americans. A little less cheerful, but a lot more realistic.

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Posted at 3:38 PM, Sep 15, 2008 in Economy
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