This is the so-called proof/evidence the author cites for approving Keynesian economics.
Seems to ME to be an exagerrated view of the approach. GDP is being used to "prove" the economy is better: a growing GDP, we are told, is proof of a better economy.
But the growth is solely due to government taking wealth away from the private sector!
Such type of growth isn't optimal or even desirable--it is anti-growth in the long run!
Look, why not just SHUT DOWN the private sector and allow the government to spend ALL the money, and MORE--print it up....as Bernanke has been doing....
Will we see prosperity? No.
The argument that Europe "has" tried austerity seems to be a bit ridiculous, too...Europe has only turned that way, and with fits and starts, after many more years of going down the path of socialism...America hasn't been as bad as Europe, though the Clown and his predecessors Nixon, Johnson, and FDR were trying mightily to shove us down that path.
I would think some of that growth is from the oil industry, developing resources on private land where the government has been unable to stop it. The Bakken/Three Forks, Marcellus, Haynesville Shale, Eagle Ford, and Utica Shale development continues, and where the pipelines can't carry it all, rail cars do. It is far more than just pulling barrels of oil out of the ground, as that development affects trucking, manufacturing, trucking, housing, construction, trucking, service jobs, and retail in the areas affected. Even sectors not apparently connected are affected: Figure the OSHA NFPA 2112 flame resistant clothing requirements for the oil industry on drilling leases easily amounts to over $1000.00 in clothing per person on location per year, between 50,000 and 100,000.00 per location per year--small potatoes, but $19,000,000.00 per year in this area alone (North Dakota)--more if you count winter gear (that can double it).
The service and housing sectors, fuel, vehicles, and the hospitality industry all gain as well.
The reason I mention trucking so often is that everything moves by truck, from the rigs and crude oil to groceries and toilet paper. One in three vehicles on the highways in the western part of the state is a semi.