U.S. FIRST-QUARTER ECONOMIC GROWTH RATE LOWERED TO 0.6%

[nradisic]

Source: Marketwatch

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) - The U.S. economy slowed to a crawl in the first quarter, held back by falling investments in homes, shrinking inventories and a large trade gap, the Commerce Department reported Thursday.
The economy grew at a 0.6% annualized pace in the quarter, revised down from the initial estimate of 1.3%, the government said in its second estimate of quarterly gross domestic product. It was the slowest growth since late 2002.
Economists surveyed by MarketWatch were expecting GDP to be revised to 0.7%.
The economy has grown just 1.9% in the past four quarters, well below the 3% growth most economists say is the long-run potential. It's the weakest year-over-year growth in four years.
Consumers continued to lead the way in the first quarter with strong gains in spending and income. The business sector, however, invested little and saw year-over-year before-tax profit growth fall to the lowest level of the five-year-old expansion.

Read more: http://www.marketwatch.com/News/Story/Story.aspx?guid=%7B31B26C89%2D4FDB%2D4AFF%2DBB72%2DF5A8A0FA5FAB%7D&siteid=mktw

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With inflation above 2.5% (maybe much higher) and a growth rate of 0.6%....we are already in a recession. It does not take Einstein or a rocket scientist to figure that one out.

[endarkenment]

1. I think the GDP numbers are inflation adjusted.

However 0.6% annual growth is hideous.

[Warpy]

2. Inflation adjusted? By this Enron accounting school bunch?

I sincerely doubt it. I think that number was fudged upward by any means they have.

Don't forget, also, that gas prices were still relatively low last quarter (well, relative to now). As bad as the last quarter was, this quarter is likely to be far worse as people stop spending money on anything besides stark necessity.

[endarkenment]

3. Well that is a related issue.

I agree that inflation tracking has been deliberately skewed over the last 20 years to hide the real inflation rate. Even ignoring that, 0.6% growth is likely less than population growth which puts us in a per capita GDP decline.

[fasttense]

9. Fake inflation adjusted.

The US accounting of inflation is inaccurate and underestimated.
http://www.shadowstats.com/cgi-bin/sgs/article/id=343

So their estimate of the GDP is overestimated. The US is really in negative GDP. Thanks bush*.

[aquart]

11. Yep.

[endarkenment]

17. I agree with that. nt.

[gravity]

12. They are adjusted for inflation

It's not a recession, just very slow growth.

[gravity]

self delete

wrong place

[gravity]

14. delete

did i again

[hatrack]

4. Bwak! The economy is strong! Bwak! The economy is strong! Bwak!

:eyes:

[Doctor_J]

5. Why should the economy be different than anything else?

Smirk is an absolute disaster on every front.

[jaksavage]

6. You fools are missing the point !

This was a revision
Down more than 50%
But nobody cares cause its water under the bridge
and corrections have less threat after a perfect 1.3 % announcment last month

LIESLIESLIESLIESLIESLIESLIESLIESLIESLIESLIESLIESLIESLIESLIESLIESLIESLIESLIES

I am weary of hearing spin spun and filtering into everything
including NPR and us citizens

Stop babbling about them and do more !

Get up stand up

stand up for our rights

[David__77]

7. Recession coming - housing bubble collapsing.

It's inevitable. It's been said so much, but it's true that the ATM of home equity is not an option any more.

[kurtyboy]

19. Yesterday's Washington Post had this headline:

An ATM That's Out of Money

As Housing Market Slips, Tide of Spending and Refinancing Retreats

By Nell Henderson
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, May 30, 2007; Page D01

For a long time, Paul and Amy Woodhull's house on Capitol Hill was a honey pot. Through multiple refinancings over nearly a decade, they pulled out money to fix it up, buy a car, pay down credit cards, buy three other properties and improve them, too.

Now the pot is dry. The Woodhulls are feeling squeezed by bills, but with interest rates up and home prices down, they're reluctant to touch their home equity again. They called their six children into a family meeting recently, and Amy laid down new rules: No more impulse purchases or frivolous shopping trips. "We're going to have to save our pennies," she declared.

....

The couple also pulled money out of their rowhouse to buy another rowhouse as an investment, and to buy a beach house in Delaware. Later, they refinanced the beach house to buy another one next door. They also refinanced at times to take advantage of falling interest rates, lowering their mortgage payments, which freed up more cash. Grand total: nine refinancings in nine years.

....

"Jeez, we've got all these payments every month," said Amy, 48, a radio network executive. "Now, when I look at sending my son to college in a year, I can't refinance again. Rates aren't falling. . . . I'm kind of stuck. What are my options? Sell a property into a down market? I'm really feeling quite caught -- like panicked caught."

</snip>

[Citizen Kang]

21. awwwwwwwww

boo-hoo

[Javaman]

8. Boiling the frog applies to so many things these days...

Gas, oil, climate change, economy, jobs, etc...

add your own.

when an empire starts it's fall, so many of the various indicators are pumped up to keep the masses quiet, but comes a time when no matter how much the indicators are inflated it can't change the facts of reality.

We are entering into that "facts of reality" land.

the housing bubble, the war, colossal over spending are just some of the things killing this nation. They are now reaching a point, where no matter how much spinning is done, no matter how much lying is spewed, it just can't unfuck the the unfuckable.

[roamer65]

10. Stagflation here we come!!

Party like its...1979.

[tom_paine]

13. Trust me, if Royal and Loyal Bushies say the economy grew at 0.6%

Then it CONTRACTED at -2.0% or worse.

Busheviks are just like Nazis and Bolsheviks...they lie about everything all the time. Numbers from any three of these Party-based entities, Bushies, Nazis, or Commies, are to be flatly mistrusted because each Party-based entity has at it's core a Straussian contrmpt for those they rule. They also all have a firm beliefe that the citizenry is so stupid, that lying to us is the only way to save us from ourselves.

[gravity]

15. I blame gas prices

When the price of energy increases, everything else in the economy will suffer

[kineneb]

16. well, like, duh, like, I could have told them that,

like, well, why did they waste their time counting those numbers.
Gag me with a machete!
;-)

Valley Girl speak... /off

[BootinUp]

18. Repukes better hope the worst

is about over. All the Dems need is a weak economy Bushler to attack and we could make serious gains across the boards in '08.

[TheWatcher]

20. Yes, maybe then they will politely suggest to him

That he should possibly consider some sort of time table for bringing the Troops home..

Only hypothetically of course.

After all, they wouldn't want to seem pushy or aggressive like they have been so far.

[Javaman]

22. Funny how just a few minutes ago it was a breaking headline on MSNBC

over how we have just "dodged" a recession. How does a nation, just miss having an recession? someone please explain to me when it's been widely reported that the economy is basically flat? (it appears as if msnbc has yanked the breaking headline and now buried the "just miss recession" article down the page)

The economy is anemic at best and has been so for the last 7 years. funny how that works huh?

So what did we do, dodge the recession and jump right over it into depression?

here is the link to the very bizarre cheerleading article:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18962050/

[Supersedeas]

23. nothing to see here--feed them more Lohan and Rosie bashing