"Recession Looks a Bit Less Bad Thanks to Government" by Neil Shah at the WSJ

[applegrove]

Recession Looks a Bit Less Bad Thanks to Government

by Neil Shah at the WSJ

http://blogs.wsj.com/economics/2012/07/27/recession-looks-a-bit-less-bad-thanks-to-government/

"SNIP......................................

Those who favor bigger government spending to boost the economy just got some more ammunition.

Associated PressAccording to the government’s latest number-crunching exercise — they revised old economic data while taking their first crack at how the economy performed in the second quarter — the Great Recession of 2007-2009 wasn’t as Great as we thought. Sure, it was the worst economic calamity since World War II, but the abyss we sank into three years ago wasn’t as deep as we thought. The reason? Government spending provided a cushion.

Real gross domestic product shrank 4.7% between late 2007 and the middle of 2009 — not the 5.1% initially estimated, the Commerce Department says. In 2009, America’s economy contracted 3.1%, much less than the earlier estimate of 3.5%. (The government’s “positive” revisions to the first and second quarters of 2009 were the biggest ones they made.)

So, what happened? It wasn’t consumer spending or business investments; those estimates were pretty much left alone. Net exports of goods and services abroad were a little stronger than initially thought, but that also doesn’t account for the change. That leaves “government consumption expenditures and gross investment,” which jumped far more in 2009 than initially estimated.

.......................................SNIP"

[Historic NY]

1. Wait, isn't government suppose to be the problem.

[LiberalFighter]

2. Only when Republicans have their way of course.

[DCBob]

3. I think its a bit better that "a bit less bad".

but basically a fair assessment.