The Economic Report of the President is out, and we should probably take a look at it, if only for old time’s sake. The rumor mill says that the next chairman of the CEA will be supply-side TV blatherer Larry Kudlow, and God knows what we can expect from him. Probably a ten-minute YouTube video. Or maybe a tweetstorm. Who knows?
Anyway, this year’s report is stocked full of the usual number of interesting charts, but I’m going to highlight their version of my favorite chart. This one shows state and local spending following the Great Recession:
Normally, spending increases after a recession, and this is one of the things that powers the recovery. This time that didn’t happen. Thankfully, we at least had a bit of help at the federal level:
Needless to say, Republicans feverishly opposed all attempts at economic stimulus because they didn’t want the economy to get too much better. That might have helped Obama’s reelection chances, you see.
Oh well. Bygones. I’m sure Trump will fix everything.
