Image credit: American Action Forum
More bad news on the economic productivity front. From today’s Wall Street Journal: “Non farm business productivity — the goods and services produced each hour by American workers — decreased at a o.5% seasonally adjusted annual rate in the second quarter as hours worked increased faster than output.”
It was the third consecutive quarter of falling productivity, the longest streak since 1979, and it caps an abysmal growth rate averaging 1.3% between 2007 and 2015.
Whatever could be the cause?
Could part of the explanation be that, according to the American Action Forum, the Obama administration has issued 600 major regulatory rules costing $1.4 billion on average, or about $743 billion overall, during its seven-and-a-half years — with more to come?
Nah, that can’t be it. It’s all George Bush’s fault.
— JAB
