Can you say ... WTF?
by digby
Today's economic data is, shall we say, bracing:
The country’s gross domestic product, a broad measure of the goods and services produced across the economy, grew at an annual rate of 1.3 percent in the second quarter, after having grown at an annual rate of 0.4 percent in the first quarter — a number that itself was revised sharply down from earlier estimates of 1.9 percent . Both figures were well below economists’ expectations.
Data revisions going back to 2003 also showed that the 2007-2009 recession was deeper, and the recovery to date weaker, than originally estimated. Indeed, the latest figures show that the nation’s economy is still smaller than it was in 2007, when the Great Recession officially began.
“The word for this report is ‘shocking,’ ” said John Ryding, chief economist at RDQ Economics. “With slow growth, higher inflation and almost no consumer spending growth, it is very tough to find good news.”
The latest figures come as Congress is debating how to put the nation on a more sustainable fiscal path, with measures that some economists worry could further slow the economy and even throw it back into recession. Even in the absence of further austerity measures, some of the government’s current stimulative policies, such as the payroll tax cut, are phasing out, and state and local governments are slashing spending dramatically.
Such fiscal retrenchment was already expected to be a drag on growth in the coming year; the Commerce Department’s report and the Washington debt talks only magnify those concerns.
Yeah.
As for the politics, CBS Senior correspondent Nora O'Donnell just asserted in the White House briefing that the Democrats haven't compromised. Jay Carney explained that they have backed off clean debt limit demand, accepted dollar for dollar cuts and accepted no revenues as part of the package. You'd think she would have known that.
Earlier I saw a man on the street segment on CNN in which every single person said that both parties are behaving like children and they should just sit down and figure out what needs to be done. I'm sure that someday they'll understand that the Democrats were the adults in the room and the GOP were the psychos, but I'm not sure they'll find it to be very reassuring at that point.
.