Fast-fading US recovery now looks even weaker

[OhioChick]

Source: Reuters

12 Aug 2010, 0451 hrs IST,REUTERS

WASHINGTON: US consumers will set the course for a gasping economic recovery that is starting to lose two of its strongest sources of support.

Economists have long expected that growth would slow in the second half of this year as government stimulus spending dries up, state and local governments slash outlays, and companies finish restocking lean inventories.

What they did not anticipate was that the economy would lose most of its momentum before the year was half over, a surprisingly swift slowdown that prompted the Federal Reserve to rethink its economic outlook and announce more steps to prop up the recovery.

"The anemic recovery just got even slower," said Jay Bryson, global economist with Wells Fargo in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Stock investors, reconsidering growth prospects, dumped shares on Wednesday, with the Dow Jones industrial average down 250 points by mid-afternoon.




Read more: http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/international-business/Fast-fading-US-recovery-now-looks-even-weaker/articleshow/6296481.cms

[Downwinder]

1. I'm patriotic. Give me money, I'll spend it.

[DJ13]

2. What I dont understand is... wheres the second half of the stimulus?

The last accounting I read claimed that approx. $400b (+/-) had been either spent or earmarked to be spent, but the stimulus bill was for $750b, so wheres the other $300b?

[benlurkin]

3. Nobody is asking and nobody is answering that question

The media is asleep and nobody in the admin. is volunteering the answer to your very valid question. I've been wondering why we needed the "unnamed" bail out bill for the states since there is still hundreds of billions left unspent from "TARP".

[girl gone mad]

4. The banks are about to demand yet another bailout.

This is probably why some of the current bailout funds remain untapped.

[SlipperySlope]

5. There was no recovery

There has been no recovery. There was a substitution of government spending for private spending, but there has been no organic growth in private spending.

[eridani]

6. In a technical sense there was

However, just like the last 3 "recoveries," there has been no job recovery. Recovery or recession is beside the point--the real problem is what the "new normal" is turning out to be.

[xchrom]

7. Recommend

[boomerbust]

8. Just reported poll on CNBC

More people than not want to see Bush tax cuts extended.

[Tutankhamun]

10. And independent polling has confirmed that most Americans are stupid idiots.

[Javaman]

9. The GOP says...

Mission Accomplished.