'Close To Zero Economic Growth?'
Nov 18, 2019
Opinion editorial by WBZ NewsRadio political analyst Jon Keller
BOSTON (WBZ NewsRadio) — When it comes to political news, there are plenty of shiny-object stories to catch your eye.
Impeachment, the campaign, the president’s mysterious medical checkup, they’re all worth watching.
But my attention was grabbed by this headline on the CNBC website: “Economic growth is close to zero for the fourth quarter, according to Fed gauges.”
Zero?
The Fed identifies “lackluster retail sales and production growth” as leading indicators.
Meanwhile, the Industrial Production Index is “lower than at the onset of 15 of the 17 recessions” of the past century.
Uh-oh.
These latest red flags come at the start of the holiday shopping season, and that doesn’t bode well. So wouldn’t it make sense for the Democratic presidential candidates to seize the moment by talking about this at length when they debate Wednesday night?
President Trump just complains about China and the Fed. Can any of the Democrats offer a better explanation and game plan for dealing with economic slowdown?
Shouldn’t the prospect of recession affect their policy promises? If not, why not?
They can demonstrate their fitness for office by offering clear, well-thought-out and realistic analysis of what’s happening to the economy and how they’d try to guide it in the years ahead.
Yes, impeachment and all its tweets are interesting.
But I bet most voters are a bit more interested in what’s about to happen to their finances.
You can listen to Keller At Large on WBZ News Radio every weekday mornings at :55 minutes past the hour. Listen to his previous podcasts on iHeartRadio.
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