January 23, 2011
The New York Times was touting the prospect of renewed spending by business leading the recovery. There are two major problems with this story. First, investment in equipment and software has already been growing rapidly. Over the last four quarters it has grown at almost a 20 percent annual rate. People who have access to the Commerce Department’s data on GDP (a group that apparently excludes employees of the NYT) are aware of this fact.
The other important fact known to people with access to this data is equipment and software spending is actually a relatively small share of GDP. (There was huge overbuilding of non-residential structures, so it is not plausible to imagine a big pick-up in this sector any time soon.) Equipment and software spending were equal to 7.1 percent of GDP in the third quarter of 2010. This means that even if the growth rate doubles to 40 percent, it would only add 1.4 percentage points to GDP growth. This would have less impact than reducing imports by 10 percent.
In short, while a more rapid pace of investment spending can be helpful, it is unlikely to be sufficient to restore the economy to healthy growth path. That will almost certainly require a reduction in the trade deficit, which in turn depends on a decline in the value of the dollar. The latter is apparently a low or non-existent priority for the Obama administration.
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