So the US economy grew at an annual rate of 2.5 percent from July to September

[malaise]

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/28/business/economy/us-economy-shows-modest-growth.html?_r=1
<snip>
Economic growth in the United States picked up in the last quarter in the latest encouraging sign that the recovery, while painfully slow, had not stalled.

Consumers spent more, especially on health care and utilities, and businesses invested more, in software and vehicles among other items, spurring the fastest growth in a year. The nation’s total output of goods and services grew at an annual rate of 2.5 percent from July to September, almost double the 1.3 percent rate in the previous quarter, the Commerce Department estimated on Thursday.

That pace is not brisk enough, however, to recover the ground lost in the economic bust, relieve unemployment or even entirely dispel fears of a second recession.

“It ain’t brilliant, but at least it’s heading in the right direction,” said Ian Shepherdson, the chief United States economist for High Frequency Economics, a data analysis firm. “I want to see 4 percent, but given that people were talking about a new recession, I’ll take 2.5 or 3.”

[HillbillyBob]

1. The economy may hve grown but my income has not

trying to figure out how the hell we are going to eat later in the week. Partner has been laid off since MARCH! Hes making some $ taking in small side jobs and I am disabled.
FUCK wall street may it burn to the ground!

[malaise]

2. Your situation sucks but

I assume you support growth :hi:

[HillbillyBob]

6. Well since I have been personally income stagnant for years now

I don't really care anymore about 'growth' for the economy since it does not help us little guys at all.

Before we lost jobs.home etc and left Fl we were taking down about 100 a year between us. I got sick/injured and partner was repeated laid off we have managed to get by on about 30g/yr since then, plus we help support other family members. We have been through this crap before even then get a few $$ ahead only to have some thing come up that eats it all. I feel for those many that are doing worse than we are. We did plan ahead, which is how we managed to buy a place we live, and we made sure to find a cheap enough place so that our payments would be less than rent. Now I m not too sure if we can hold on to it.

Up till about a week ago I did care, I don't now. I would be out with Occupy if I could walk or had transport to get there.

[Marrah_G]

12. I wish I could recommend your post.

[Marrah_G]

11. Supporting growth for whom?

[IndyPragmatist]

3. Y= C + I + E + G

Y= GDP
C= Consumer spending
I= Investment
E= Net Exports
G= Government spending

Our current GDP is 14.12T (per World Bank).

2.5% growth of that would be growth of $352.5B.

In 2011, we will run a budget deficit of $1.1T.

We are not doing well at all. If it were not for massive budget deficits, our economy would be shrinking big time.

[earthside]

5. It's just a number.

The debate goes on about what GDP really measures and what it means.

As long as we have around twenty percent unemployment and under-employment and have stagnant wages combined with increasing health care costs -- in my opinion we are still in a recession.

GDP and the stock market are incidental to the real economy for real Americans.

[IndyPragmatist]

8. You are right, but not many people understand that

People think the economy is the markets; it is not.

The economy is all of the actions, decisions, and resources of the people. When the stock market fluctuates, I always hear people say "the economy is tanking" or "the economy is taking off." No, a select group of companies that are publicly traded are seeing greater confidence from investors. That's it. There is no perfectly accurate way of measuring the economy, so we created a formula for GDP in an attempt to do so.

Better indicators of the economy are consumer confidence and unemployment.

[Selatius]

4. So, basically, people are shelling out more cash for the same shitty health insurance cartel.

Aside from that, growth is meaningless if unemployment remains abysmally high and wages are down.

[Javaman]

7. +1 nt

[OhioChick]

9. +2 n/t

[Marrah_G]

10. No one I know is doing 2.5 % better.

Frankly the numbers coming out of Washington or Wall Street don't mean a damnt hing to me anymore. Seems like everytime they say "oh look the numbers are going up" it translates to "the rich are getting richer...yay....fuck the rest of you".

[IDemo]

13. Crude oil prices leap up

Published: 6:55AM Friday October 28, 2011 Source: Reuters

Crude oil futures rebounded more than 3% today, primed by a deal on Greek debt that many analysts said bodes well for resolving the euro zone crisis.

Markets got a boost after euro zone leaders struck an agreement with private lenders for the latter to accept a 50% loss on their Greek government bonds.

The deal boosted the euro against the dollar to a seven-week high and sparked a rally on Wall Street, while copper jumped 5%.

Additional support came from data showing the US economy grew in the third quarter at its fastest pace in a year, bringing relief to investors who weeks ago feared the world's largest oil consumer would lapse into another recession.

http://tvnz.co.nz/business-news/crude-oil-prices-leap-up-4486845