The Mythical Confidence Fairy

After harming the recovery from the Great Recession -- and making it harder for the unemployed to find jobs -- through austerity, blocking jobs bills, and standing in the way of additional stimulus measures, Republicans are trying to take credit for the recovery. They made things worse, and when they stopped doing harmful things, the economy improved and they want credit for that:

The new Senate majority leader, Mitch McConnell, suggested earlier today that the Republican Party deserves credit for recent data showing that the economic recovery has picked up speed. ... Mr. McConnell is claiming credit for a recovery based solely on the fact that Republicans have just taken control of both houses of Congress...

Here’s what Mr. McConnell said on the floor this morning:

“After so many years of sluggish growth, we’re finally starting to see some economic data that can provide a glimmer of hope. The uptick appears to coincide with the biggest political change of the Obama Administration’s long tenure in Washington: the expectation of a new Republican Congress.”

That deserves ridicule. Republicans were terribly wrong about Federal Reserve policy, just as wrong about austerity and the confidence fairy, yet here they are once again telling us that the confidence fairy rather than the end of their awful policy is responsible for the recovery.