Editor’s note: This post is part of a six-piece story on the U.S. economy, the upcoming presidential election, regulatory drag and all the impact all three are having on the trucking industry. Click here to read from the beginning.
The U.S. hasn’t exceeded 3 percent GDP growth in 9 years Glassman says, adding it took the U.S. 77 months to recover from the 2008-09 recession. Previously, the average recovery time had been two years.
| [gttable cols=”” width=”500″ class=”alignright”]
Click the links below to read more on the discussions of the U.S. economy’s health that took place at TRALA this week: Are we slowing our own economic growth? How long will sub-$100 per barrel oil last? Are winds of change blowing in Washington? What can and should get done before the next election? [/gttable] |
“Republicans blame Obamacare or government spending for the slow recovery. Democrats blame it all on President Bush,” he says.
Martin Regalia, U.S. Chamber of Commerce, says based on current trends that the Obama administration will be the first in U.S. history to spend all of its 8 years in office piloting an economy that is performing below its potential.
“The only reason we’re projected to get back to (the trend line) in 2017 is because we’ve pulled the (trend) line down,” he says.
There is plenty to blame to go around, and much of it has noting to do with party affiliation.
Two contributing factors Glassman says are the imbalance of older people in the workforce to younger people and a lack of explosive innovations.
“In a way, we’ve kind of picked all the low hanging fruit,” Glassman says. “There are a lot of economists out there that say we may be in a secular, long-term, slow down that we may not be able to do anything about it.”
The U.S. ranks 7th in global competitiveness, down from first in 2008-09, and ranks 33rd for legal system and property rights, down from 9th in 2000. Currently, it takes 433 days to start a business as entrepreneurs fight through an ocean of red tape and regulations.
Consistently for the past two years, interest rates on 10 year treasure notes have fallen. They reached a peak of more than 15 percent in the 1980s but currently sit below 2.5 percent, and Strauss says the U.S. is seeing a collapse in inflation as a result, adding global economies are all suffering.
“All developed economies are showing great weakness,” he adds. “The only one that is showing any improvement is India largely due to some of the changes they are making in their bureaucracy.”
