It’s only the headline writer, but it is the most common of all economic illiteracies. From The Australian: Growth rates slashed as GFC fallout lasts decade.

Normal economic growth rates won’t resume until at least 2017, the Reserve Bank declared yesterday as it slashed its growth forecast for next year, leaving Australia with weak growth for almos­t the entire decade since the global financial crisis began.

The Reserve Bank’s vision, outlined in its quarterly review of the economy released yesterday, now stretches for another 18 months, with a 0.5 percentage point downgrade in growth estim­ates for next year, to 2.5 per cent, casting a shadow over budget forecasts.

Let me couple this from Drudge today:

Record 93,770,000 Americans Not in Labor Force…
Participation Rate 38-Year Low…
Record 56,209,000 Women Not Working…

The only relationship between the GFC and the dismal economic outcomes today is that the GFC led one government after another to put in place a Keynesian stimulus. As I said at the time, we will be lucky to get out of the problems created within a decade. If you would like more of the same, Policy in the Pub on Wednesday the 19th.