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by samsonradu 874 days ago
Does the deficit increase[1] play a role in the very good economic numbers seen lately?

[1]https://www.brookings.edu/articles/why-did-the-budget-defici...

5 comments

> While #GDP surprised to the upside in Q4, it wasn't a healthy expansion. To garner a $329 billion increase in economic growth it required a $834 billion increase in debt. Or rather $2.53 for each $1 of economic growth.

https://twitter.com/LanceRoberts/status/1751930127519203459

Federal spending is fifth in causes of real GDP growth:

* https://www.bea.gov/news/blog/2024-01-25/gross-domestic-prod...

Behind consumer spending, exports, state/local governments, business investment.

Certainly the two stimulus packages helped early on, but things seem to be chugging along without that.

That article ends with a segment titled "bottom line" that states:

> The recent increase in the deficit doesn’t fundamentally change the fiscal outlook for the U.S.

Great example of Betteridge's law of headlines.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betteridge%27s_law_of_headline...

Hard to imagine that what's basically $2 trillion in annual stimulus has no effect on the economy.
Possibly, but not as much as Bidenomics' trillions of investments into American jobs, infrastructure, and manufacturing through the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, CHIPS and Science Act, and Inflation Reduction Act.

The Fed is also signaling very clearly to the market the cost of money. This, combined with frowing understanding of LLM-driven efficiencies, are letting businesses feel comfortable with investing in revenue returning initiatives.

And more revenue usually means more jobs