The U.S. Department of Commerce released growth estimates for the First Quarter 2011 and they aren’t encouraging. The economy grew at a paltry 1.8 percent, down significantly from Fourth Quarter 2010 estimates. All in all, the estimates are an indictment of the interventionist and manipulative turn economic policy has taken under the Obama Administration (although building on Bush policy in its last year). I discuss this in more depth in a post on the National Review‘s blog The Corner. I also point out that growth has been inconsistent.
Investor’s Business Daily has a nice summary of how this recovery has failed to meet benchmarks met after the last deep recession in the Reagan Years. That recovery, some might recall, was precipitated by cuts in taxes, spending restraint, adoption of a predicatable monetary rule, and cuts in business regulation.
For some context, I also wrote an article for National Review On-Line in October 2010 (“The Not So Great Recession”) summarizes some of the major weaknesses and pitfalls of this recession recovery and how it compares to previous recessions and the Great Depression.