Article • Dean Baker’s Beat the Press
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Cokie Roberts told listeners that the political deadlock between President Obama and Congress is slowing the economy [sorry, no link yet]. It is far from clear that this is the case. Consumption as a share of disposable income is actually higher than its post-war average. Investment in equipment and software is nearly back to its pre-recession share of output, which is striking given the large amount of excess capacity in most sectors of the economy. It is not clear what component of GDP that Roberts thinks would be higher without the deadlock.