Although the Associated Press reports that "the drop in gross domestic product wasn’t as bleak as it looked" (it "was mainly the result of ... [g]overnment spending cuts and slower inventory growth, which can be volatile" [my emphasis]), we should brace for much more of this kind of overreactive, counterfactual wisdom, from National Journal's Ron Fournier, formerly of the Associated Press:
"An economic recovery has begun," Obama said in his inaugural address. "America’s possibilities are limitless...."
Well, no they’re not--at least not until we get our fiscal house in order.
... which wrongly implies that the federal deficit and national debt are the economy's chief drags. This anti-Keynesian obscurantism just never seems to die its long-overdue and deserved death.
Krugman is so right: Washington's "Very Serious People" are easily among either the least knowledgeable or the most disingenuous.