Over the past three generations, the average annual GDP growth rate has been about 3.4%.  That includes the Great Depression, recessions, and recoveries.  When our economy has been in a recovery mode, we have seen growth of at least 4.0% level for long, sustained periods of time.   In every decade of the 20th century, including the 1930s, we achieved at minimum four quarters in a row of consistent high growth. In the 1930s, 10% was the growth rate in the three-year 1934-36 period.  For 1940-43, we sustained an average growth of 15% for four years.  Using quarterly GDP growth figures starting in Q1 1951, the graph below plots 10 quarters at a time, or two and a half years, to smooth out the volatility and demonstrate economic performance over a sustained period. For the first 10 quarters of the 1950s, our annual growth rate was 8.1%.  In the early 1960s, we achieved a five-year, 20-quarter spurt of 6.3% growth per annum.  In the early...(Read Full Post)