Obama Legacy Continues; Longest Stretch Of Productivity Declines Since The 1970s -- August 9, 2016

US productivity fell for third straight quarter. Stalling labor productivity could curb worker pay and economic growth. From The Wall Street Journal:

The longest stretch of productivity declines since the end of the 1970s is threatening to restrain U.S. worker pay and broader economic growth in the years ahead.

Nonfarm business productivity, measured as the output of goods and services produced by American workers per hour worked, decreased at a 0.5% seasonally adjusted annual rate in the second quarter as hours increased faster than output.

It was the third consecutive quarter of falling productivity, the longest streak since 1979. Productivity in the second quarter was down 0.4% from a year earlier, the first annual decline in three years and just the sixth year-over-year drop recorded since 1982.

And then my wife wonders why her IRA has performed so badly in the past twelve months. But she supports Hillary. What can I say?

I track the Obama Legacy here. 

Home ownership: at record low, since when? I forget.

Economic recovery: worst in 49 years, was it?

US healthcare: in unprecedented turmoil.

First US president ever to have been at war the entire eight years of his presidency.

President Obama is the first American president in history who did not have one single year of 3.0% economic growth.