Comments on: Britain is losing the economic Olympics

By: akaletsky

akaletsky — Tue, 31 Jul 2012 11:26:11 +0000

All are entitled to their own opinions, but not to their own facts – hence this correction to the comment from Ian_Kemmish:”To the best of my knowledge and belief, the UK has never delivered even a single quarter of growth comparable to that in the US for as long as I have been alive.”

In the past 20 years (starting from Q3 1992)UK GDP has been HIGHER than US GDP growth in 33 out of 80 quarters. Moreover, these periods of faster UK growth have not just been temporary aberrations. If we compare total GDP growth from the third quarter of 1992 to the peak of the cycle in the first quarter of 2008, the British economy expanded by 65 per cent, while the US expanded by only 59 per cent. If we look at the period from 1992 up to the divergence of US and UK performance in the summer of 2010, we see that the UK grew by a total of 58 per cent, while the US grew by a total of 57 per cent.

That seems about as close to a controlled experiment as I can imagine.

PS All the above GDP figures are in real terms – ie they exclude inflation.

By: b1quet

b1quet — Sun, 29 Jul 2012 09:51:19 +0000

Let’s get back to the Olympics. 1. This is not a sprint – restoring reality to government deficit policy takes time. 2. The US has not even started this event. 3. The US continues to run on performance boosting drugs (QE…) they will explode before the race is over.

By: Sinbad1

Sinbad1 — Sun, 29 Jul 2012 07:34:11 +0000

The US is unique and cannot be compared to other economies. Nearly 70% of all US dollars reside outside the US. So when the US prints money the rest of the world gets the inflation headache. If other nations were to just keep printing money like the US their economies would collapse from the inflation.

By: reality-again

reality-again — Sat, 28 Jul 2012 22:07:01 +0000

Let’s be fair -
There is an energy boom going on in the US, with new oil and natural gas being extracted in many states, and in Canada.
Roughly one out of ten new jobs in the US is linked to this energy boom.
Cheap energy is the bedrock of consumer economies.
The US got lucky again, and/or maybe Obama was smart enough not to listen too attentively to environmentalist lobbyists.

By: REMant

REMant — Sat, 28 Jul 2012 20:42:18 +0000

Is Mr Kaletsky out of a job, too?

By: Sarasota

Sarasota — Sat, 28 Jul 2012 19:29:49 +0000

The biggest economic lesson from the Great Depression was that premature austerity prolongs the downturn. Not until WWII, when massive borrowing and military spending stimulated the American economy did the GDP lift to sustainable growth, after 13 years of austerity and depression.
It is entirely understandable in this present situation, where 30 years of borrowing has accumulated, that Americans are loathe to increase the public debt. But at a time when investors are paying the Treasury to hold their money, it is clearly the proper course to generate sustainable growth.
As for taxation, I often wonder when those who have benefited most from the past borrowing will be willing to pay for the past debt that their favorite administrations incurred.

By: Granpaspy

Granpaspy — Sat, 28 Jul 2012 18:58:47 +0000

Whatever route you take it’s not what you spend it’s what you waste.Here in the the UK we have the best of all wasters. The MoD, The NHS,and government in general. both organisations are needed, but for goodness sake lets find somebody who can run them .The bad old class system is alive and kicking.Cameron rewarding his cronies, and then screwing the pensioners and poorer members of Brit Ltd.Nothing changes, Brit Ltd is run by plonkers.

By: EagleDriver

EagleDriver — Sat, 28 Jul 2012 00:03:55 +0000

No way is Germany’s and the US ecomonies ‘significantly bigger’ than in 2008. We are bearly creeping along and now in a down turn. What rock has the author been living under or is it just too much liberal cool-aid.

By: OneOfTheSheep

OneOfTheSheep — Fri, 27 Jul 2012 22:31:30 +0000

@JHudson,

All other things being equal, the “smaller” government is, the less expensive it is, i.e. the more sustainable when revenue is not without limit. That’s not “political ideology. It’s economic reality!

By: brotherkenny4

brotherkenny4 — Fri, 27 Jul 2012 19:30:35 +0000

Austerity or stimulus, it really doesn’t matter. You have societies where the underclasses have no reason to help or care. The fact that I even say underclasses is an indictment on the politicians and their masters, the moneyed elite. Slaves should stop breeding slaves. They should also stop caring about your stupid economies which don’t include them as members, except as a commodity to be used for the purposes of the wealthy. A cow, a sheep, a worker, what’s the difference? Nothing really. All are consumed by the meat grinder.