Thought that this post by Denninger was interesting. http://market-ticker.org/akcs-www?post=177912 Basically, he argues that GDP in the US has been fuelled by debt over the past 50+ years, and proves this by removing borrowings that take place during this period. He ends up with a graph which shows that there was no GDP growth 1953-2009: (from http://market-ticker.org/akcs-www?get_gallerynr=1061) The spike up in 2009/2010 was because people were paying down debt, so ironically only in the last 2 years has the US seen 'real' GDP growth.
