Debt Ceiling Catastrophe

By Econ70 | 10/07/2013

The government shutdown, if short, will mildly depress Q4 GDP growth. The same can’t be said for failing to raise the debt ceiling. The government currently runs a $640 billion deficit/year, 4% of GDP, while GDP growth is 2%. If the debt ceiling isn’t raised, the budget must be balanced, thus federal spending would drop…

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GDP for Higher

By Econ70 | 12/06/2011

During Q3 ‘11 U.S. GDP finally exceeded the real pre-recession peak of total economic output recorded in Q4 ‘07. It took 15 quarters to offset the 5.1% decline in output during the Great Recession, 3 times the average number of quarters needed to reach the prior peak in other post-WWII recessions. The bigger problem, the…

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