Yes, it still does. It went bad under the last administration, has been slow under the current administration, and looks as though it will be anemic for yet longer. A change of administrations, and a change of majorities in the House, were not themselves – nor should we have expected them to be – guarantors of turnaround.
Blodget’s been wrong about things, but he’s right about this:
In the past couple of months, a disconnect has developed between the perception of the US economy and the reality.
The perception is that everything’s just fine: The continuation of a solid if unspectacular recovery that began in the summer of 2009. Stocks continue to rise. Corporate profits continue to boom. The unemployment rate continues to tick down. Wall Street continues to coin money.
But the reality is that the recovery has never been strong and that many key metrics have recently turned south–despite the fact that the government still has its foot stomped on the stimulus gas….
Blodget lists mediocre GDP growth (1.8%), weak job growth, falling home prices, and waxing inflation. They’re all bad signs, and all reason to focus on simple, fundamental fiscal strategies, to the exclusion of complicated schemes or sideshow initiatives.