Advance Estimate Shows Weak Second Quarter GDP Growth
The advance estimate of GDP growth for the second quarter of this year is 1.3 percent:
Real gross domestic product -- the output of goods and services produced by labor and property located in the United States -- increased at an annual rate of 1.3 percent in the second quarter of 2011, (that is, from the first quarter to the second quarter), according to the "advance" estimate released by the Bureau of Economic Analysis. In the first quarter, real GDP increased 0.4 percent.And, if that news isn't discouraging enough, previous estimates were revised downward. For example, growth in the first quarter is now estimated to be just .4 percent, and GDP growth in the fourth quarter of 2008, i.e. at the worst part of the recession, was revised downward from -6.8 to -8.9 percent.
Why are we talking about cutting the deficit immediately and running the risk of making this even worse? It's time for Congress to wake up and realize that this problem, particularly troubled labor markets, should be their first priority?
