Free Republic

Yeah—if you consider 1.6% growth “robust” . . . On CNN this morning, Michael Smerconish suggested that there was no point in cutting taxes, since, speaking of the economy “things seem to be quite robust, as they were for the last few years of the Obama administration.” This is wrong on two counts. First, the economy was far from “robust” at the end of the Obama administration. To the contrary, in Obama’s final year, the economy grew at a paltry 1.6%. And Obama scored the dubious achievement of being the first President since Herbert Hoover to fail to have the...

While the mainstream economists were quick to believe that the U.S. economy is growing as the key stock indices suggest, I stood by my opinion that it isn’t. After the first estimates of gross domestic product (GDP) for the U.S. economy came out, a wave of optimism struck and stock markets rallied. It seemed as if everything was headed in the right direction. Sadly, they were wrong. In its third and final revision of GDP, the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) reported that the U.S. economy grew at just 1.8% in the first quarter of 2013 from the fourth quarter...

Everyone knows the US today is the single most powerful nation on Earth and corners of Europe like Switzerland, Scandinavia and Luxemburg are the richest (yes, Qatar is pretty rich too). But what part, if any, will lead the World in say 200 years from now? Marxists claim the US is heading for a fall. Perhaps it is, but don't expect North Korea or Cuba to take its place. Hundreds of times, I've been telling members of this forum what is right about Scandinavia. We dare to stand up for freedom of speech, we dare to fight Islamofascism, we dare...

U.S. economic growth accelerated at a faster pace than previous estimates, according to U.S. Commerce Department’s fourth-quarter gross domestic product report. Fourth-quarter GDP grew at an annual pace of 3.1 percent, up from the Bureau of Economic Analysis’ previous estimate of 2.8 percent. The report, issued Friday, cites stronger consumer spending. Consumer spending rose 4 percent, the biggest increase since the fourth quarter of 2006. Inventory and business investment both rose, while exports of goods and services fell. Corporate profits increased 2.3 percent in the quarter, led by banks and other financial firms. The financial-services sector saw its profits grow...

Violent hurricanes are good for the economy. So are cancer, divorce and war. Vegetable gardens are an obstacle to growth, along with stay-at-home parents, plump savings accounts and fuel-efficient cars. The reason is that when America's politicians speak of the economy or its growth, they generally mean gross domestic product, which thrives on spending but not necessarily improvement. As the benchmark's architect, Russian-born economist Simon Kuznets, warned in a letter to Congress more than three-quarters of a century ago, "the welfare of a nation can scarcely be inferred from a measure of national income." Therein lies the key to what...

There's No Such Think as a Jobless Recovery http://www.wiseandfrugalgovernment.blogspot.com I have been watching the U.S. markets and the economy for twenty-five years. And I can tell you with confidence: There is no such thing as a recovery when unemployment is rising. I can also tell you that over those twenty-five years (during which I was managing billions of dollars) never have I seen a media so determined to call an end to a recession only to declare with the next bit of economic news that the so and so indicator "unexpectedly" came in below expectations... Unexpected? Only to the wishing...

Norway's oil-fuelled economic growth has outpaced all other western countries durng the past four years, and statistics experts think the good times will keep on rolling.

Sweden's economy will continue to grow at a healthy pace, according to a new prognosis from the OECD, but inflation poses a threat. The Swedish economy grew by 4.7 percent last year - the highest growth level for more than 30 years. This year it will fall slightly to 4.3 percent, dropping again to 3.5 percent in 2008. Even that figure would be high by historical standards, and OECD economists said they saw few signs of weakness. The government was praised for cutting taxes for low earners and for its reforms to the unemployment benefit system. "The labour market reforms...

"Creative class flies to Sweden Sweden is second to none when it comes to creativity in business and is "a talent magnet for the world’s most educated workers", according to business magazine Forbes. These claims are backed up with statistics culled from the book The Flight of the Creative Class by Richard Florida, which measures creativity in terms of talent, technology and flexibility. When these qualities were compiled in a global creativity index, Sweden came out on top of the pile, just ahead of Japan, Finland and the United States. In an article singing the praises of Sweden's "well-educated citizenry",...