MAY 2, 2012
GDP numbers weak, ALG says 'This is Mitt Romney's election to lose'
FAIRFAX, Va. – Americans for Limited Government President Bill Wilson issued the following statement on the latest report from the Bureau of Economic Analysis showing the growth in the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) at just 2.2 percent in the first quarter:
"This is the time in the political cycle when voter attitudes are cementing, and right now, the Obama economy stinks. Unemployment is still above 8 percent, which the Administration said would never happen if the 'stimulus' was passed. Growth is still quite sluggish, only coming in at 2.2 percent in the first quarter, despite promises of a V-shaped recovery. 25 percent of that can be explained by higher commodity prices in non-durable goods and in services, meaning without the inflation, growth might be more like 1.7 percent.
"In fact, the Obama Administration was projecting 3 percent growth this year, so their rosy projections are once again way off. In 2011, they projected 3.1 percent growth and only got 1.8 percent. As their growth projections prove to be way off once again, revenues will fall short of expectations, and the national debt will continue to grow that much faster.
"Also, now the $15.6 trillion national debt is officially larger than the entire $15.4 trillion U.S. economy, growing at an annual rate of over 10 percent. No nation can long sustain itself when it takes on debt at nearly five times the rate its economy grows.
"Couple that with almost $4 a gallon for gasoline, food prices once again increasing, home values continue dropping into a double-dip recession, 1 in 2 recent college graduates cannot find full-time work to pay off hundreds of billions of student loan debt, and the election outlook for Obama must look quite gloomy. This is Jimmy Carter all over again — only worse. This is Mitt Romney's election to lose."
