Wednesday, August 9, 2017

Payroll Coasting

A picture of coasting:

Total nonfarm private payroll employment 04/2002 to 07/2017

What was the question we collectively were asking ourselves? Perhaps, "Hey, what would happen if -- before really fully recovering -- we stopped pushing the economy back towards health as soon as we pulled it out of actively crashing?"

If we aim a car up a very slight incline and get going pretty fast and don't hit the brakes, it'll keep going at a fairly steady pace for a while even after the driver's foot leaves the accelerator. Not forever. But for a while.

Realistically, the foot isn't all the way off the pedal. It's more like we've cut back on the gas after quickly getting up to speed on the on-ramp.

We're way below speed limit though. Was that the plan? Why did that seem like a good idea?

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