Germany and France Snap Out Of Recession Despite Stimulus Packages That Obama Called Too Small

Germany and France enjoyed a shock return to economic growth in the second quarter of the year, data showed on Thursday, ending their recessions earlier than many policymakers and economists had expected.

German gross domestic product rose by 0.3% in the second quarter, bringing an end to the country's deepest recession since World War Two and boosting hopes of recovery in the broader euro zone.

French GDP also grew by 0.3% in the second quarter. The consensus in a Reuters poll of economists had predicted a 0.3% quarterly contraction in both countries.

An interesting note...their recessions were significantly deeper than that in the U.S. (Germany's GDP contracted by 7.1% on the year compared to 3.9% in the U.S.), but look at the size of their stimulus packages in comparison:

So smaller, targeted packages (France = Less than 1.5% of GDP, Germany = 4.3% of GDP) appear to have been more effective than just throwing money at the problem (U.S. = almost 7% of GDP). Huh...

Also, who would have thought that the U.S. would be the most Keynesian country in the world (well, besides China, but they were running a massive surplus and are, well, COMMUNIST), and by a lot over France. Oh, how things have changed.

Source: http://money.cnn.com/2009/08/13/news/international/europe_economy.reut/index.htm?postversion=2009081304