An Encouraging Post-Obama Economy?

If the Obama economy is depressing to you, Mark Perry's graphic—which suggests an amazing U.S. post-Obama economic potential—should cheer you up.

Perry has compiled this map of the 50 US states renamed for countries with similar GDPs (Gross Domestic Product):

The map above was created by matching economic output in US states in 2013 to foreign countries with comparable GDPs, using BEA data for GDP by US state and GDP by country from the International Monetary Fund, via Wikipedia here. For each US state (and the District of Columbia), I tried to find the country closest in economic size in 2013 (measured by GDP), and for each state there was a country with a pretty close match – those countries are displayed in the map above and in the table below. Obviously, in some cases the closest match was a country that produced slightly more, or slightly less, economic output in 2013 than a given US state.

It’s pretty amazing how ridiculously large the US economy is, and the map above helps put America’s GDP of $16.8 trillion in 2013 (and more than $17 trillion in Q4 2013 and Q1 in 2014) into perspective by comparing the GDP of US states to other country’s entire national GDP.

In one example, Perry argues that California produced $2.2 trillion of economic output in 2013, just slightly below Brazil's $2.24 trillion, with 80% fewer people! He calls that "a testament to the superior, world-class productivity of the American worker."

Now imagine what all the United States could produce if the nation had an administration with even a smidgen of economic good sense.

U.S. Debt Now Equal to Economy (USAToday)

"The soaring national debt has reached a symbolic tipping point," reports USA Today. "It's now as big as the entire U.S. economy."

"The amount of money the federal government owes to its creditors, combined with IOUs to government retirement and other programs, now tops $15.23 trillion."

"The total national debt topped the size of the economy for three years during and after World War II. It dropped to 32.5% of the economy by 1981, then began a steady climb under President Reagan, doubling over the next 12 years. The combination of recession and stimulus spending caused it to soar again under Obama."