General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: United States has lost 32 percent of its manufacturing jobs since the year 2000 [View all]bhikkhu
(10,715 posts)...particularly if you look at that in the context of decades of job losses in that sector. And it speaks well for Obama's trade policies that we have both added jobs in manufacturing and increased exports to record levels:
We do have what they call "weak economic growth", but it is growth nevertheless. If you look at the pre-2008 predictions of what high oil prices would do to the economy, the consensus was that they would inevitably cause recession and cut down growth. That was to be the same for any country, and of course for any president. If you would concede - as many people do now - that high energy prices are here to stay, then 1-2% growth begins to look more like a goal to aspire to. Perhaps some day down the road the media will stop calling it "weak" and start calling it simply what it is - "positive growth", the opposite of economic decline.