WASHINGTON — A widening gap between data and reality is distorting the government’s picture of the country’s economic health, overstating growth and productivity in ways that could affect the political debate on issues like trade, wages and job creation.
The shortcomings of the data-gathering system came through loud and clear here Friday and Saturday at a first-of-its-kind gathering of economists from academia and government determined to come up with a more accurate statistical picture.
Robert Stopanio’s new medical-device manufacturing plant was supposed to open eight months ago and employ about 75 workers in a state that desperately needs jobs. But Stopanio hasn’t been able to find the financing.
While the federal government pours billions of stimulus dollars into the economy and bails out some of the country’s biggest banks, local businesses say they are ready to grow — if only they could get a loan.
“I am a growth mongrel, I love growth. But there is no money. There is no working capital,” said Stopanio, the owner of Scorpion Performance of Fort Lauderdale.
Instead, Scorpion is building its new Ocala plant from the profits it pulls in from its primary business making high-end automotive parts.
“We have to build as we earn,” Stopanio said. With a little luck the new plant will be open by Christmas.
Commercial and industrial lending across the United States fell 8 percent from December through June, according to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., and the lending drought has hit small business even harder.
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — The same economic pressures that pushed California to the brink of insolvency are wreaking havoc on other states, a new report has found.
And how state officials deal with their fiscal problems could reverberate across the United States, according to the Pew Center on the States’ analysis released Wednesday.
The 10 most troubled states are: Arizona, California, Florida, Illinois, Michigan, Nevada, New Jersey, Oregon, Rhode Island and Wisconsin.
Other states — including Colorado, Georgia, Kentucky, New York and Hawaii — were not far behind.
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