May 29, 2008
IF THE REAL DEPRESSION HAD BEEN LIKE THIS...:
GROSS DOMESTIC PRODUCT: FIRST QUARTER 2008 (BEA, 5/29/08)
Real gross domestic product -- the output of goods and services produced by labor and property located in the United States -- incre ased at an annual rate of 0.9 percent in the first quarter of 2008, according to preliminary estimates released by the Bureau of Economic Analysis. In the fourth quarter, real GDP increased 0.6 percent.The GDP estimates released today are based on more complete source data than were available for the advance estimates issued last month. In the advance estimates, the increase in real GDP was 0.6 percent.
...Hoover would still have been president at the end of WWII.
N.B. Friend Brouwer has more.
Nah. I've never read anything suggesting Hoover was megalomaniacal enough to trash the two-term tradition.
Posted by: b at May 29, 2008 2:28 PMI am of the opinion that this economic downturn is more akin to a financial panic (such as that of 1907 when a living, breathing JP Morgan rode to the rescue) than a classic economic recession.
The economy has definitely contracted and growth is modest compared to Q2 and Q3 of 2007. Nonetheless, those who say the recession is definitely underway are having a bit of difficulty these days. One economist called this a 'growth' recession. I have no idea what that means, but it does have a post-modern ring to it, doesn't it?
Posted by: Kurt Brouwer at May 29, 2008 4:58 PM"The economy has definitely contracted and growth is modest compared to Q2 and Q3 of 2007."
I don't get it. If the economy contracts, growth would be negative. And yet it's positive. So what am I missing to make you say that "the economy has definitely contracted"?
Agree with Kurt - the slowdown has been driven by the issues in the financial sector (subprime mess) and higher fuel costs. A recent article I saw noted that the financial sector is a high profile part of the economy (i.e. New York) and therefore its problems get a lot of attention that may overstate the issues.
Posted by: AWW at May 29, 2008 6:41 PMDon't forget the media (as a sector) has been in economic free fall since just after 2000. And there has been a Republican in the White House at the same time. Remember under Reagan and Bush I all the stories about the collapse of the vaunted news divisions at the networks, now that they had to be actual businesses.
So people like Barbara Ehrenreich and Bartlett/Steele get a lot of puff, and America is constantly reminded of all the uninsured, over-mortgaged, credit-busted, and chronically unemployable out there. Just last week, USA Today ran a cover piece about a couple of women who lost it all trying to start their own businesses and going back to school, at the height of the market about 2 years ago. There are probably 100,000 people with the same story across the country, even in a "good" year.
Is the Times back below $15 again?
Posted by: jim hamlen at May 29, 2008 10:08 PMOpened today at $17.50. The 52 week bottom was $14.01.
Posted by: George at May 30, 2008 9:31 AM