Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

The Pentagon's Timely Contribution to GDP (3rd Quarter 2012)
Barron's ^ | October 27, 2012 | Gene Epstein

Posted on 11/05/2012 12:14:59 AM PST by CutePuppy

Gross domestic product grew an anemic 2.0% in the third quarter, up from 1.3% in the second quarter, with a surge in defense spending accounting for the gain.

Data-conspiracy theorists, take note.

The Bureau of Economic Analysis reported Friday that real gross domestic product in the third (July-September) quarter grew at an annual rate of 2.0%, up from 1.3% in the second quarter. That figure represents the last report card on GDP growth before the presidential election. It's also pretty dismal. At this stage in the economic expansion, a reading of 3% should be considered disappointing and 4% par for the course.

Since the recovery began in third quarter '09, only two calendar quarters out of 13 have shown annual GDP growth at better than 3%.

Also, when we examine the 2% for third quarter 2012, something looks strange: the timing of the contribution attributable to the federal government. Private-sector GDP in the third quarter rose at an annual rate of just 1.3%, a shade down from 1.4% in the second quarter. What lifted that 1.3% to 2.0% was the government's share.

And not just government in general. The state-and-local share of GDP ran flat. All the heavy lifting was done by the federal government, almost all of it by defense spending.

Now, it would be one thing if defense spending had been generally contributing to GDP growth. But this is the first contribution since third quarter 2011 — and the largest since second quarter 2009.

Is it possible that the Defense Department got the word (somehow) to bunch its spending in the third quarter to do its part for GDP in the release just before the election?

.....

(Excerpt) Read more at online.barrons.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Government; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: 2012election; 2012gdp; 2012gdpq3; defense; economy; elections; government; obama; pentagon
Same point was raised in a different article in the same issue.

From A Cliff Too Steep, Even for D.C. - B, by Randall W. Forsyth, 2012 October 27

I don't think I've seen this artificial GDP "boost" described in other publications or on FR, or pointed out and emphasized by GOP candidates in Presidential or Congressional campaigns.

1 posted on 11/05/2012 12:15:07 AM PST by CutePuppy
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: CutePuppy

Yeah and funny how it is 2.0 and not 1.9% ,and unemployment 7.9% and not 8%. Obama and its minion are just a bunch of tyrannical liars.

China makes most of our stuff: Obama makes U.S. uncompetitive

The U.S. economy is crap . We can’t even make most of our own stuff we use as China is making that and beating us. Obama has been president for 4 years so it’s that piece of crap’s fault.Obama’s socialism has destroyed the U.S. economy . We have much more coal, oil, shale oil , natural gas etc. than China but Obama is restricting energy production which could have created cheap energy for manufacturers . Instead China is building 1 coal power plant per week and makes most things we use ( more every day but the media lies and says the economy is great). 17 million more people on food stamps, 8 million more on disability , 20 million more unemployed. millions of manufacturing jobs lost , 50% college grads can’t find jobs, other good jobs replaced with fast food jobs and part time jobs all this with 6 trillion $ in debt it added on us . after election Obama ‘s EPA plans to almost completely shut down coal,oil, natural gas etc. Don’t you democrats get it socialism never works


2 posted on 11/05/2012 12:24:59 AM PST by Democrat_media (limit government to 5000 words of laws. how to limit gov Quantify limited government ...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Democrat_media
China makes most of our stuff: Obama makes U.S. uncompetitive. ... We can't even make most of our own stuff we use as China is making that and beating us.

It's not just trinkets or textile anymore, courtesy of years of "diminished competitiveness" and "pricing out of the market" by deliberate (even when well-meaning) policies of the federal, states and municipal governments.

From America the Gutted: The Island of Migrant Steel - CNBC / Global Post, by Benjamin Carlson, 2012 October 24

The consequences of these policies are not accidental or unexpected for anyone with even basic understanding of economics or business and trade practices.

Don't you democrats get it socialism never works

Oh, they get it, it works for them.

The main difference between the Democrats and the mafia is that the Democrats' protezione (protection) racket method takes the form of re-distribution of Other People's Money (OPiuM) by the "political class" in return for the "dependent class" votes ("payment") to keep them in power - the more people and/or groups of people are in the "dependent class" the greater the grip on power by the "political class."

It keeps feeding on itself as long as there is OPiuM, or as Margaret Thatcher said "The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people's money" - as Soviet Union, Greece an Spain have already discovered, and many other countries are in the process of experiencing or finding out.

3 posted on 11/05/2012 1:50:15 AM PST by CutePuppy (If you don't ask the right questions you may not get the right answers)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: Democrat_media

If the measure of inflation hadn’t been rigged to be artificially low (keeping down COLA-linked federal expenditures), the reality that the economy is still contracting and never came out of recession would be clear.


4 posted on 11/05/2012 2:10:25 AM PST by 9YearLurker
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson