Posted on 05/05/2015 7:22:27 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
It turns out the US economy may have contracted in the first quarter.
Last week, we learned that gross domestic product grew by just 0.2% in the first quarter, far below the 1% economists had expected.
Then on Tuesday, the Commerce Department reported that the trade deficit in March exploded to a six-year high, $51.4 billion.
The surge in the deficit the gap between imports and exports has been largely blamed on the nine-month slowdown at West Coast ports, which has been resolved.
The slowdown and strike over a labor dispute limited the flow of goods through some of America's biggest ports. And that could have put more downward pressure on growth in the first quarter, according to economists.
In a note after the release, BNP Paribas economist Laura Rosner wrote: "We calculate that today's report, if taken at face value without considering any offset from inventories, implies a 0.6pp downward revision to first-quarter growth, leaving our tracking estimate at -0.4% q/q saar (BEA's initial estimate was +0.2% q/q saar)."
(Excerpt) Read more at businessinsider.com ...
We are in an actual Depression, and it is about to get much, much worse.
But that could be the least of our worries because THE SUN IS BLANK! No kidding.
Start chopping wood kids and pile on the blankets. Global warming my ass!!
I believe the obama near recession was the big reason the gop
Took tbe house and why hillary will lose. As her pal carville says, it’s the economy stupid.
If you look at the growth rate during the Great Depression you would see that they are MUCH BETTER than those of today. There where years that exceeded 10% growth. We have not had GDP above 3% annual growth in over a decade. We have averaged less than 1.5% growth since Obama took office. Never exceeding the 2.5% in any one year.
This is what a modern day Stagflation Depression looks like. Get used to it unless a strong pro growth reformer becomes POTUS.
Thank God our children and grandchildren are willing to pay for all of our wants today.
But only because of the abnormal global warming in the eastern US.
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.