August 25, 2010
That should have been the headline of an article reporting on Representative John Boehner’s call for President Obama to fire his top economic officials. The article reports that Boehner asserted: “business operators around the nation were anxious about investing in an uncertain business climate given the new policies coming out of Washington. ‘The prospect of higher taxes, stricter rules and more regulation has employers sitting on their hands.'”
The data show businesses are actually increasing investment at a rapid pace. Investment in equipment and software has risen at more than an 18 percent annual rate over the last three quarters. It is newsworthy that Mr. Boehner is apparently unaware of the most basic economic data, since he is making strong assertions that are clearly at odds with reality. Mr. Boehner’s ignorance of the state of the economy should have been a prominent item in the news.
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