One possible, slim green shoot of economic recovery is that November showed the biggest growth in consumer credit in the past decade. Growth like that generally indicates increased consumer confidence, higher demand, and more willingness on the part of banks to lend. But, as TPM's Brian Beutler notes, that might have happened a few months earlier, except for the Republicans. Check out this chart:
That’s a year’s worth of data. Taken in the context of the collapse of the credit bubble, it’s a pretty small blip [...] But it’s a pretty big hit to a fragile recovery. It was only by November that total consumer credit returned to where it had been before the standoff on Capitol Hill. Look at the graph and you’ll see that the growth we just experienced could have come in July and August in the absence of that fight.
The Republicans' manufactured debt-ceiling hostage crisis did have real-world consequences. Of course, since they are intent upon making the economy as bad as possible as their primary hope of keeping the House and regaining the Senate and the White House, they'll probably look at this as an achievement.