White House economist Alan Krueger on the third-quarter GDP report:
Today’s report shows that the economy posted its thirteenth straight quarter of positive growth, as real GDP (the total amount of goods and services produced in the country) grew at a 2.0 percent annual rate in the third quarter of this year, according to the “advance” estimate released by the Bureau of Economic Analysis. Over the last thirteen quarters, the economy has expanded by 7.2 percent overall, and the private components of GDP have grown by 10.1 percent. While we have more work to do, together with other economic indicators, this report provides further evidence that the economy is moving in the right direction.
Wow, 7.2%. Sounds like a lot. Except during the first 13 quarters of the Reagan recovery following the horrific Long Recession of 1980-82, the economy expanded by nearly 3x as much, 19.6%. Heck, the economy expanded 7.2% in 1984 alone.
