The US economy is slowing

[IronLionZion]

https://www.cnn.com/2019/10/30/economy/us-gdp-third-quarter/index.html

New York (CNN Business)The US economy grew at an annualized rate of 1.9% in the third quarter, the Commerce Department announced Wednesday.

This is the preliminary reading of US gross domestic product, the broadest measure of the American economy. The Commerce Department will update its estimate twice more.

Although the economy's growth is slowing, it remains relatively strong. However, the third quarter marks the first time since the final quarter of 2018 in which the US economy has grown at a rate slower than 2%.

The economy was helped by growing consumer and government spending, but the pace of growth decelerated. Americans spent less on cars, continuing a trend that has been ongoing for a year.

But Americans also spent less on clothing and footwear. The Trump administration hit some Chinese imports of clothes and shoes with tariffs during the summer.
Nevertheless, the report beat analyst expectations. Economists polled by Refinitiv expected growth to be as slow as 1.6% ahead of the release.

Both the GDP report and ADP private payrolls report exceeded investors' expectations ahead of the Federal Reserve's monetary policy decision at 2 pm ET Wednesday. But neither data point "will be able to move the needle for the Fed," wrote Todd Schoenberger, senior research analyst at Wellington & Co. Schoenberger agrees with the majority of investors, who expects the Fed to cut rates by another quarter percentage point today.

All part of making America great again. #MAGA

[dalton99a]

1. The Trump recession is coming

[Iliyah]

2. Pretty much . . .

When salaries can't keep up with the cost of living, something has to give.

[Kittycow]

3. I sort of watch the trucking industry as a gage

since hubby's a trucker ( as an employee of a food distribution company with established delivery routes to restaurants.)

He watches the amount of cases he delivers and keeps track of consumer demand that way. I keep a causal eye on a couple online industry publications.

A few days ago I read that the spot market is still going down and there's been a considerable decrease in loads compared to this time last year resulting in a considerable increase in bankruptcies. ( My basic understanding of the spot market means it's when suppliers put out a call to have their loads delivered instead of having a contract with somebody.)

We were trying to figure out if the trucking industry going down has anything to do with the tariffs or not.

[Wellstone ruled]

5. You post is spot on.

Noticed the same trend back in September. There was a spike up but that is not unusual because of the lumpyness of Containers coming to port because of Trump's Tariff's.

Understand that as of last week,there has been a layoff of 4k drivers due to Bankruptcies and lack of Loads plus a major cut in freight rates.

[Kittycow]

15. I guess trump can get behind the wheel of a big rig again

and toot-toot the owner- operators to the poor house.

[Wellstone ruled]

16. So wonderful not to have any type of

interest in anything Over the Road or anything dealing with Warehousing of any type. What was once a stable industry is now Russian Roulette. Your Job security was your last pay check. Which is true for most American Companies now days.

[IronLionZion]

4. Most of the stock market gains went to people who were already wealthy

low income people who don't own stocks would not have seen much increase in their wealth. That's who drives our consumer demand-based economy, not the wealthy "job creators". Consumers create jobs, and they are cutting back on consumption of some big items like cars, clothing/shoes, houses, travel, and so on.

Wealthy people save and own stuff including investments in stocks and real estate. It's great that companies are well capitalized with investors and tax cuts, but they won't use that excess cash to hire more workers or buy more equipment if customers are not buying the products and services they sell. So they pay it out in dividends or buy back stocks or otherwise keep it if they have no incentive to spend it.

Unlike 2008 when things crashed hard and fast, now the American people are getting screwed low and slow.

[Johnny2X2X]

11. What stock market gains?

There's this misconception that the stock market is doing great, it's not. The last 2 full years have been bad for investors. In fact since the Trump tax rates went into effect the Stock Market has gone up less than 4% annually and much of that growth is because companies used their tax cuts for Stock Buybacks. Stock Market did great in 2016, and great in 2017 when we were still under Obama tax and budget policies. 2018 was the end of the bull market, stocks went down. 2019 has been OK.

[IronLionZion]

13. Wealthy have cashed out

as the stock market hit all time highs, these folks sold high. As companies used their tax cuts to buy back shares and raise prices, they sold high.

That money is not trickling down to lower income people.

[MissB]

6. I'm gonna go with "no shit" and

just in time for Christmas too!

[IronLionZion]

7. If people buy less over the holidays

we're going to feel it all through next year in time for the election.

It'll be hard to blame this on Obama but I'm sure they'll try.

[Hoyt]

8. Well, it was better than the expected 1.6%.

[Johnny2X2X]

12. That was 1 prediction

1.6% was 1, most other predictions were right around 2%. They cited the 1.6% because it was the lowest.

[Mr. Ected]

9. All I heard from right wingers from 2008 on

Was that the economy wasn't improving enough for their liking.

Where the fuck are those whiners today?

[IronLionZion]

10. They'll probably still blame Obama, or Pelosi, or impeachment, or the Fed

anything except Trump's policies

[Cosmocat]

14. Fuckers live in bizarro world

up is down, down is up ...

[ck4829]

17. But... but... strong economy