As a business owner you know that our economy, and the global economy are run on the tightest of margins. No one wants to carry safety stock (hold inventory) and the world is run to be 'just in time' for maximum efficiency and profitability.
So covid hits the globe and throws all calculations and patterns into chaos, which causes a massive disruption. People are scared to work, goods aren't being delivered, selling patterns are jumbled, panic hoarding are wiping weeks of inventory out. It has added more cost to the supply chain and created a spike in the gig economy cuz people want more stuff delivered.
Stimulus checks and PPP loans was the government trying to smooth everything out and get through the covid storm without it turning into a recession/depression.
So yeah, we spent during an economic crisis (just like we spent our way out of 2008) which is what we learned back in the great depression (and haven't had a depression since while stabilizing global markets).
That whole thing, including stimulus and PPP was putting inflationary pressure on things.
Then Putin invaded and oil spiked which took a massive shit on our economic recovery.
It was a Mike Tyson 1-2 punch. Two economic nuclear bombs in a row.
But we didn't fall into a recession and unemployment had stayed at all time lows as we recover.
Is there room for Monday morning quarterbacking...of course there is. We avoided a recession which I'll take every time. Unemployment is still at record lows, the stock market has made new all time highs, wage growth has now even outpaced inflation.
National average wages and salaries grew by nearly $15,000 from January 2021 to October 2023, according to the JEC Democrats.
www.google.com
Compared to what was predicted, this is a massive pleasant surprise.
Lastly and I'm being serious, is there any true libertarian government success story to point to?
Seems like they either implode or turn into a fascist regime due to the social unrest that comes with minimal government.