U.S. Economy Barely Grew in First Quarter

[onehandle]

Source: New York Times

The American economy slowed drastically in the first quarter of 2014, as wintry weather depressed corporate spending and housing sector activity, while smaller additions to inventories by farmers and businesses also held back growth.

At an annualized rate of 0.1 percent, the pace of expansion in January, February and March was the weakest since the fourth quarter of 2012, when output barely grew at all. It also represented a sharp deceleration from the level of growth recorded in the second half of 2013, when the economy expanded at a 3.4 percent rate.

The first-quarter pace also fell well short of the 1.2 percent rate of growth expected by Wall Street economists before the Commerce Department announcement Wednesday morning.

Still, most economists expect that many of the headwinds evident in the first quarter will fade over the course of 2014, and the growth rate will return to a range between 2.5 and 3 percent. In addition, Wednesday’s report is the first of three estimates of growth by government statisticians, and the final figure could ultimately be revised substantially in either direction.

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/01/business/economy/us-economy-barely-grew-in-first-quarter.html

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Thanks to old man winter and old white men GOP.

[AngryAmish]

1. we are so fucked

[deutsey]

2. I'm going to guess this current spate of bad weather

isn't going to help.

[jtuck004]

3. Yeah, it was the weather. Probalby had nothing at all to do with the banksters that have been

making the decisions about our lives for the past few years.

Bankers doing ok, though, oddly enough, while the rest of the country swirls around the drain.

Maybe one day we will elect people who give a shit about someone else.

[ffr]

4. Two things about economic expansion

1) you wouldn't know it around here. We have new construction all over, commercial rental property vacancies are far less prevalent. My business is booming to the point I cannot keep up (obviously local).

2) we have to break our stereotype that a growing economy is good and a shrinking economy is bad. Not always. When the population is exploding like it has for the past two centuries, sure the economy should expand. But by definition, if populations (Germany, Japan, parts of Russia) decline, so too should their regional economies. And that does not necessarily mean recession. It just means there's fewer consumers buying stuff they don't need.

[greiner3]

5. If Old Man Winter could take off that much of the economy;

Imagine how much that many OW GOPers are.

That and it's up in the air whether they will control both chambers next year.

So little chance of a veto override, but still.

Two years later is what I am concerned about when they may control all three branches again.

[Skittles]

6. gee, imagine that

corporations and executives are getting theirs though