GDP grew at modest clip during fourth quarter
What I find interesting about these numbers are that they dovetail nicely with the unemployment rate figures. The economy grew up a modest 2.8 percent during the final three months of 2011, which was the fastest rate in a year and a half. But it would have grown a much faster 3.7 percent had it not been for a big cut back in government spending. It's the same thing with the unemployment figure. While the private sector has created jobs for 22 consecutive months, government has been cutting jobs for just about that same amount of time, to the tune of more than half-a-million government jobs lost. If the size of local, state and federal government had simply stayed the same, the jobless number would also look a bit better.
That tells me that the folks who are anti-government and want it to shrink rapidly should be excited, because they are getting just want they wanted - though that smaller government is coming with a price: an economy that is growing slower and a jobless rate that is higher than they otherwise would be.
