Wednesday, January 30, 2013

US Economy Shrinks in Q4

Ouch.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The economy unexpectedly contracted in the fourth quarter, suffering its first decline since the recession ended more than three years ago as businesses scaled back on restocking and government spending plunged.

Gross domestic product fell at a 0.1 percent annual rate after growing at a 3.1 percent clip in the third quarter, the Commerce Department said on Wednesday.

That was the worst performance since the second quarter of 2009 and showed the economy entering the new year with no momentum, but economists cautioned against reading too much into the decline in output.

 

(11) Comments
Posted by Owen at 0904 hrs
Economy

  1. But if you take out all the bad stuff, the report looks “encouraging”...or something.

    Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on January 30, 2013 at 1104 hrs


  2. Ah, Obomonomics is working just fine. Just ask moron Paul Krugman!

    Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on January 30, 2013 at 1939 hrs


  3. Look at that, the treasonous shit talking traitors finally got their wish.

    Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on January 31, 2013 at 1011 hrs


  4. I’m a small business owner.

    Our health care premiums jumped 30%, with the mandates of Obamacare cited as the reason for the increase by our insurance agent.

    Just for my policy, that’s an extra $3400 out of my pocket, each year.

    I would have rather bought a new truck with that money. Not now.

    Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on January 31, 2013 at 1107 hrs


  5. Private consumption is up, income is up, and government spending is down. I’m sorry, what exactly is it about these numbers that you’re complaining about? You do realize you’re basically complaining about an outcome that resulted from government spending less, right?

    Posted by Recess Supervisor on January 31, 2013 at 1220 hrs


  6. So why did we see slight contraction in the GDP? In large part because spending cuts—federal, state, and local—shaved more than a full percentage point off GDP growth.


    I realize the right doesn’t want to hear or believe this, but when Washington spends far less—in this case, the cuts focused on defense—it takes capital out of the economy and undermines growth. It is, as a practical matter, a form austerity, which hits the brakes on the economy. This is Economics 101 and yet Republicans continue to insist that it is the only policy they really care about.

    Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on January 31, 2013 at 1442 hrs


  7. So if there hadn’t been reductions in government spending, the economy would have grown by 0.9%? That’s what you’re cheering about?

    Posted by Owen on January 31, 2013 at 1445 hrs


  8. GDP isn’t “the economy” and it doesn’t measure “growth”.  It’s a statistic.  Now, if you want to use GDP - G you’d have a much better statistic, but even then you’re still leaving out lots of other factors.

    Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on January 31, 2013 at 1640 hrs


  9. GDP is a strange thing.

    Consider the switch to digital photography- it bankrupted Kodak, eliminated jobs, vaporized shareholder value- in short, it probably decreased GDP. But would we be better off had loaded such huge taxes onto digital photograph as to keep us using film?

    Did Cash for Clunkers increase GDP? Probably (even though it surely destroyed value). Although you’d increase GDP far more by just crashing your car- thereby incurring the expense of ambulances, medical services, perhaps rehab (plus the cost to repair or replace the vehicle, assuming you could still use one)- all of which would count toward GDP.

    Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on February 01, 2013 at 0905 hrs


  10. Is a shrinking GDP a long term trend? If not why/how?

    When it comes to Bourbon I prefer Blanton’s:)

    Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on February 14, 2013 at 0944 hrs


  11. How are we going to address this?

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fcQYI4yo8mM

    Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on February 14, 2013 at 1041 hrs


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