Posted on 07/31/2009 5:38:36 AM PDT by Oldeconomybuyer
WASHINGTON -- The U.S. economy slumped in the spring but its decline was mild and much smaller than the contraction over the previous nine months, according to data that gave a powerful signal the recession has eased.
Gross domestic product fell at a seasonally adjusted 1.0% annual rate April through June, the Commerce Department said Friday in the first estimate of second-quarter GDP.
GDP acts as a scoreboard for the economy by measuring all goods and services produced. It fell 6.4% in the first quarter and 5.4% in the fourth quarter, at the pit of the recession.
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
a quote from another thread...
"" This country is INDEED being governed by the stupidest people in, maybe, the history of the world. "
No chance of this economy “humming along” anytime soon, too much debt, too many lingering issues (remember those toxic assets?), commercial estate forclosures, etc...
It seems to be gaining a lot of traction right now, though. You don’t think the positive trend will continue??
I don’t see how the economy can recover that quickly with the dramatic increase in federal debt, which will push up interest rates, while the dramatic increase in federal involvement in business will cap any recovery well below any noticeable level.
So can Obama not keep that ponzi scheme going long enough to get his comrades and himself re-elected in 2010 and 2012? That’s my fear.
Recession Worse Than Prior Estimates, Revisions Show
July 31 - The first 12 months of the U.S. recession saw the economy shrink more than twice as much as previously estimated, reflecting even bigger declines in consumer spending and housing, revised figures showed.
The world’s largest economy contracted 1.9 percent from the fourth quarter of 2007 to the last three months of 2008, compared with the 0.8 percent drop previously on the books, the Commerce Department said today in Washington.
Yea was wondering how they tally the numbers.. so the 1% drop is actually 1% worse than the same quarter last year which was already dropping.. is the way i understand it..
The current GDP is the percentage change from the GDP of the previous quarter.
But they are playing with these numbers. They can alter the source numbers used to calculate GDP depending on what they want the outcome to be.
That there is still a decline in GDP is the important issue.
The stats are fictional at this point. The fundamentals point to economic collapse.
What traction? We are seeing the economy starting to bottom out, that’s it. Our economy lost over $14 trillion in wealth in a very short period of time, that is a monstrous amount of money to say the least, and it will take a long time to build it back. The great bulk of companies that showed profits in the 2nd quarter did so by cost cutting and streamlining, not by adding new jobs and investing in new plants and equipment. In fact, most of these companies’ revenues were lower than the street was calling for. Also, banks are sitting on massive amounts of forclosed proerties waiting to be put up for sale, not to mention the moritoria on home forclosures (especially in CA) that are about to expire which will put even more distressed properties on the market. Any new taxes enacted to pay for health care will be regressive, they will target those who invest and take the most risk. Lastly, we are seeing the effects of massive government spending which will end soon, what catalyst will propel the economy when that well runs dry? Consumers have traditionally spent our way out of all past WWII recessions, but now that consumer credit is difficult to access, and people are afraid to open their wallets, it is very hard to see where the thrust of any recovery will come from. Keep a close eye on “back to school” sales in August, watch for massive discounts that retailers will offer to get consumers to spend something. The bottom line is we need growth, not “less bad is good.” Don’t torture yourself by watching CNBC and all the Obama cheerleaders, we have a long way to go before this ship is righted.
I’m not saying it’s growing, but clearly the trend is upward and onward. The borrowing is at nightmare proportions, but I have yet to see the consequences of that manifest themselves (i.e. crowding out private capital, inflation...).
You nailed it. But the pretend government and its enablers are just pretending that The Marxists have changed nothing in America and all the negatives you catalogued don’t exist.
The disinformation The Marxist Onada is putting out is designed for one thing and one thing only—boosting Zero’s poll numbers.
Fact is, there is no traction. The GDP is still falling. Unemployment is still approaching 10%. The deficit and debt are exploding expeditionally. And Obama is still printing money at an alarming rate.
The big question is, will we see high inflation in the near future or hyper inflation?
I think a lot depends on how other countries fare in all of this. We are so linked to the world economy now that we no longer have much control over our own destiny. None of them want the house of cards to collapse any more than we do, except of course our enemies, so when it happens it be sudden and dramatic. Just my own humble two-cents worth. Won't even get you cup of coffee these days!
No house of cards ever collapses slowly. One minute it's OK, the next gone. There is a number of things that could trigger the collapse, not the least of which is an interruption of the oil supply. We have done absolutely nothing to be ready for day Iran gets a wild hair and does whatever it can to disrupt the oil flow. Won't even have to be effective. Just the threat will send prices through the roof.
The report is worse than being spun. Local and state governments are broke so you can assume that support of the GDP number will not be there going forward. At what point does the Federal Govt. have it’s credit card yanked and when that happens a major input of GDP support goes away.
I saw nothing here to be excited about....
The report is worse than being spun. Local and state governments are broke so you can assume that support of the GDP number will not be there going forward. At what point does the Federal Govt. have it’s credit card yanked and when that happens a major input of GDP support goes away.
I saw nothing here to be excited about....
Unemployment is well over 10%, the numbers you are getting have been lied about because they are not counting those unemployed self-employed who do not get unemployment insurance. there are also untold masses of people who have quit looking for work and are now on Welfare; They are not counted. The real unemployment numbers are around 15%. Just look at how many jobs that have been lost since last October, there are well over 20 Million and gaining over 500,000 job loses every month.
If you believe this is a “positive trend”, then you are either a TROLL, or completely naive.
Given the massive deficit created by ObaMao and his flying monkeys, there is no way in hell that this economy can or will turn around. History has repeatedly enforced this economic rule with an iron fist. THERE ARE NO EXCEPTIONS, only pollyannish fools who still believe they can defy this historical rule, based on their arrogant desire.
Which one of these categories do you fall under?
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