White House's Daniels: U.S. GDP "Unacceptably Low" But Economy Growing

By BridgeNews The U.S. economy "isn't tanking" but it is "struggling along" at rates of growth that are "unacceptably low," White House Office of Management and Budget Director Mitch Daniels said. However, "at least it's still growing," Daniels said of the economy. Daniels said that "even a substantial recession this year, which does not seem to be in the prospect" would "hardly" reduce surpluses of $5.6 trillion that are expected to accumulate over the next 10 years. "You would have to have a sustained slow-growth period on the order of 1 [percentage point] or 2 [percentage point] lower growth than the 3.2[%] that we forecast" as the average annual rate of growth over 10 years for the budget surpluses to be significantly trimmed, Daniels said. The 3.2% growth projection on which the surplus and tax-receipt assumptions are based already are "essentially a slow-growth or recessionary" scenario, Daniels said.