Picture du Jour: Economic rebound stuck in “new normal”

By Prieur du Plessis, on May 27th, 2010 posted in: Economy, Investment One comment so far

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The current U.S. economic rebound remains sub-par, as clearly seen in the chart below, courtesy of Goldman Sachs (via Clusterstock – Business Insider). As indicated by the blue line, a great deal of improvement still needs to take place to catch up with previous recoveries, especially again to see employment gains like we experienced in 1954–1982.

Source: Clusterstock – Business Insider, May 26, 2010.

Confirming the true nature of the upswing, individual income taxes collected by the U.S. Treasury are at multi-year lows through the first four months of 2010 (see chart below). From their peak in 2008, personal income tax receipts have fallen by $232.1 billion, or 24.6%. As highlighted by Casey’s Daily Dispatch, “this is a good barometer of overall economic health and income growth. Lower national tax receipts mean lower national income, and without income growth a solid economic recovery will be hard to achieve.”

Source: Casey’s Daily Dispatch, May 26, 2010.

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