The economy
No miracle cure
Bucking up this recovery is harder than it was in the past
WASHINGTON, DC
IF THERE is a theme to the American presidential campaign, it
may be: “Imagine the alternative”. President Barack Obama’s campaign
will argue that his actions prevented an economic catastrophe. Mitt
Romney, by contrast, will claim that Mr Obama’s missteps frustrated the
strong recovery that should have followed so deep a downturn. America,
Mr Romney recently claimed, “should be seeing 200-, 300-, 400,000 jobs
[added] a month to regain much of what has been lost. That is what
normally happens after a recession, but under this president we have not
seen that kind of pattern.”
Growth has clearly been tepid. The American economy managed just 1.5%
annualised GDP growth in the second quarter, down from 2% growth at the
start of the year. Hiring is merely creeping along. On August 3rd the
Labour Department estimated that American employers added 163,000 jobs
in July, better than the 73,000 monthly average in the second quarter
but slower than the promising pace earlier in the year, when firms added
more than 225,000 jobs a month.
