Center for American Progress

Obama’s Economy Is Driving Well, Considering the Hand Brake Is On
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Obama’s Economy Is Driving Well, Considering the Hand Brake Is On

Smart choices by President Obama and Congress have saved the economy from another recession and put it on the path to recovery. Policymakers can continue to help the economy by removing the obstacles to faster growth, such as helping struggling states retain teachers.

The fact that the US economy is in recovery, even modestly, is something of a miracle given the number of factors working against it. This is absolutely unique in American economic history: a recovery without the housing market expanding substantially; a recovery with state and local government employment shrinking for three years in a row; and a recovery with households owing, on average, well over 100 percent of their after-tax income in debt.

Yet even with all three of these factors dogging us, we have avoided slipping back into recession.

The above excerpt was originally published in Christian Science Monitor. Click here to view the full article.

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Authors

Christian E. Weller

Senior Fellow