The stimulus has been filling in the gaps to hold the economy together while business tries to re-start. Outside of the deceiving bank numbers (which again, all about the bailout and stimulus) business is stagnating and the US is importing much more than is being exported. If the GOP tax policies were to be implemented it would be nothing more than the giant shell game that they've been playing for decades. The end result would be less federal income and more costs pushed out to future years. It's good to see some Democrats finally calling out the damaging GOP tax cut plans because they really are an important part of the problem.
Hold your breath as the revised economic numbers are released. Dr. Doom sees clouds overhead.
Roubini said several factors that acted as tailwinds boosting the economy in the first half of the year “are going to be essentially headwinds” in the second half.
For example, temporary employment gains from the decennial U.S. census will disappear, and there will no longer be “a number of tax policies that stole demand and growth from the future,” such as tax credits for homebuyers.
“Based on the latest economic data, it looks like the third quarter is going to be well below 1 percent, and certainly closer to zero than to 1 percent, based on the current data,” he told CNBC. “And that’s just the beginning of the second half of the year.”