Briefly Noted

What Are Bloggers Thinking?

“Economic bloggers have a bleak outlook of the U.S. economy,” or so says the Kauffman Foundation in its inaugural quarterly survey. The organization asked many of the top 200 economics bloggers in mid-January for their views.

Many respondents (48%) believe that the U.S. economy is worse than the official government statistics show. (Only 6% thought the economy was performing better than statistics indicate.) Overall, economic conditions were described as “mixed” by the majority of bloggers (59%), though nearly a quarter (23%) said the U.S. was “facing recession.”

Bank lending to businesses, bank lending to individuals, and small businesses were all described as problem areas. Furthermore, bloggers thought that the budget deficit, real interest rates and inflation had the highest prospects for increasing over the next three years.

Despite an even split between Democrats and Republicans (47% claimed to be independent), most respondents (71%) thought the government was too involved in the economy. Given this, it should not be surprising that Congress was given a failing grade for its economic policies. Though government watchdogs (such as the Government Accountability Office and the Congressional Budget Office) and the U.S. business community were assigned the highest marks, their grade point average was only the equivalent of a C+. (Government policy is currently the primary topic for most economic bloggers.)

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