publication date: Jul 5, 2011
A recent Wall Street Journal story comparing the current
economic recovery to those prior is getting lots of attention. The article, "
Inside
the Disappointing Comeback" begins by stating, "Two years ago, officials said,
the worst recession since the Great Depression ended. The stumbling recovery
has also proven to be the worst since the economic disaster of the 1930s."
An extensive graphic (below) shows how the current recovery
stacks up against the "fastest" "average" and "slowest" since World War II.
At a macro level, I agree that the economic recovery has
been "disappointing," especially in terms of job growth, although as you can
see in the graph above, job growth was even more anemic after the 2001
recession. That said, I don't agree with some of the WSJ's analysis and
methodology.
Where the WSJ Went Wrong
One significant problem with the WSJ analysis is that they
compared the current post-recession recovery to similar periods only going back
to World War II. That's not a long period of comparison when discussing
economic issues. The financial crisis and panic of 2008, was the first of its
kind in a full century - since the
Panic of 1907 to be exact. It would be more
useful and instructive to compare the current recovery to those taking place
after more similar recessions/crises.
The WSJ noted the bright spot of exports:
"Exports, particularly of manufactured and agricultural
goods, are improving, in part because of booming developing-country economies
and the weaker dollar. They are expected to pick up in the second half of the
year as the temporary shock fades from Japan's earthquake and tsunami. In
a hint of this, the Institute
of Supply Management on
Friday reported an uptick in manufacturing for June. Higher corporate profits,
stock prices and business investment also are supporting the expansion."
As I've discussed in many articles, American companies are
growing and expanding which is why U.S. corporate profits and stock
prices have come roaring back during this two-year recovery. The problem
continues to be that companies are too often choosing to expand and hire
overseas rather than domestically (in the U.S.). There are two primary
reasons for this:
-
More growth is occurring overseas.
-
It's more attractive for regulatory and tax reasons to
locate overseas.
These two reasons are somewhat connected. If the business
environment in the U.S. was
more welcoming, more companies would choose to locate and expand in the U.S. That in
turn would lead to more domestic growth.
Stay tuned - I expect this issue to likely be the single
most important topic discussed and debated in the upcoming 2012 Presidential
race.
Evaluating Other Concerns
The WSJ article identified some other worries about the
economic recovery:
"...this recovery may remain lackluster for years, many
economists say, because of heavy household debt, a financial system still
damaged by the mortgage crisis, fragile confidence and a government with few
good options for supporting growth.
...Banks are less able or willing to lend than before the
recession. Since the recovery started, banks have reduced money they make
available through credit card lines from $3.04 trillion to $2.69 trillion and
have reduced home equity credit lines from $1.33 trillion to $1.15 trillion,
according to the Federal Reserve Bank of New
York."
Households and businesses have been paying down debt and
debt has been reduced as well through foreclosures and bankruptcies, which
increased during the recession as typically happens. Consumer confidence is a
lagging economic indicator and useless as a predictive tool.
For sure, lending standards are tighter today than they were
before the recession. That makes sense and is typically what happens as the
result of a recession, especially a severe one. It's a good - not a bad thing -
that lenders are being more cautious about extending loans and providing more
limited credit lines. What would be the value of making large, high risk loans
to individuals and businesses with a low probability of paying back those loans?
That's what created so many of the excesses in the real estate sector which led
to the severe downturn!