Exports, Federal Spending Are All the Economy Has Left

By Matthew Cameron

Looking at the details of Friday’s report from the Bureau of Economic Analysis largely reinforces what we already knew about the state of the economy. Namely, exports are on the rise and the federal government is holding steady in part because national defense is a relatively recession-proof industry. The big losers, meanwhile, continue to be states, local governments and industries involved in residential and commercial development. To illustrate this, here’s a chart showing the best- and worst-performing sectors (not including overly broad categories such as Personal Consumption Expenditures) since the start of the recession:

None of this should come as a surprise, but it’s yet another reminder that cutting federal spending at this point would pull the rug even further out from under the economic “recovery.”