Conservative study shows government austerity may be hurting economy

This is not a surprise, but it is interesting that the study is coming out of conservative-land. From HuffPo:

The American Enterprise Institute, a conservative-leaning think tank, has some data out indicating that cutting government spending may be off-setting private sector growth. That's notable, especially when coming from an organization with the motto "Freedom. Opportunity. Enterprise."

Public sector GDP -- a measure of the goods and services produced by the government -- has shrunk for eight consecutive quarters, according to AEI. At the same time, private sector growth has increased for 12 quarters in a row, indicating that America’s slow overall GDP growth may mostly be a result of a drop in government spending.

Even the Wall Street Journal, owned by GOP propagandist Rupert Murdoch, admits that the end of the stimulus is hurting growth (the GOP party line has been that the stimulus actually "caused" unemployment, which is absurd, but the GOP tends to pander to its uneducated base, and they've found that the truth doesn't tend to work for them at the ballot box).