BLAST OFF - US Q3 GDP up 7.2%, best in 19 years
 

Economy Grows at Fastest Pace Since 1984
Oct 30, 8:54 AM (ET)
By JEANNINE AVERSA


WASHINGTON (AP) - The economy grew at a scorching 7.2 percent annual rate in the third quarter in the strongest pace in nearly two decades. Consumers spent with abandon and businesses ramped up investment, compelling new evidence of an economic resurgence.

The increase in gross domestic product, the broadest measure of the economy's performance, in the July-September quarter was more than double the 3.3 percent rate registered in the second quarter, the Commerce Department reported Thursday.

The 7.2 percent pace marked the best showing since the first quarter of 1984. It exceeded analysts' forecasts for a 6 percent growth rate for third-quarter GDP, which measures the value of all goods and services produced within the United States.

The economy's recovery from the 2001 recession has resembled the side of a jagged cliff; a quarter of strength often has been followed by a quarter of weakness. But analysts are saying that pattern could be broken, considering increasing signs the economy finally has shaken its lethargy and is perking up.

CONTINUE READING at http://apnews.myway.com/article/20031030/D7UGHGD02.html

I heard that on the radio on my way to work this morning.

Looks like the economy is picking up at just the right time for W. Gee, if the economy's doing well next novemeber, what are the dems gonna use to attack him?

Kitso
KS 361

Come on Kitso, you know they are creative. Besides, the numbers lie. They lie I tell you. Lies... all lies. Just because productivity is at an all time high, average wages are at all time highs, the stock market is kicking butt again, unemployment is starting to come down... the numbers are lies. We need more entitlements. We need more government involvement in our daily lives. We need... We deserve... We... I... Me...

I <3 you beth :D

Kitso
KS 361 ways the dems will find to exploit a race issue before the election

Deleted because I was fooled into thinking this would be a serious discussion.:o

No you're assuming there is a set level of "money". If that were true, your economy wouldn't "expand".

Also consumer spending isn't the only thing that drives the economy.

-Rudey
--And I think I'm the only one who can rip apart all those numbers because I'm that smart but eh.

No, I'm not, but thanks though...

I think a "wise" Republican said in another thread that the present economy is due to the previous president's policies. So, if the economy is growing (which I just don't understand how due to all the unemployment, wages decreases, etc.), wouldn't that be because of good ole Billy Boy?

Then I don't know what to tell you. I guess you've pretty much figured out the economy down to the penny - the economy is just a giant catch-22.

-Rudey
--You're welcome.

Don't know if thats going to happen - Shrub was here in Dallas yesterday at an Oakcliffe Baptist Church, he is a long time friend of the black minister there. Looks like he is trying to cover all his bases to get everyone's attention of that Newsweek article about his 87 billion dollar mess and how he lied to the nation.

I wish he had just stayed Governer, I would still like the guy

The article specifically quotes the current President's policies for the reason for the economic growth (and this is an AP article...)

Bethany, I want to buy you a really expensive ring right now to help out the 'economy' :D

No because the president has no control of the economy. If you think Clinton was responsible for the stock boom, the following things must have happened as well:

1. The resulting crash and burn.
2. Al Gore had to have invented the internet.

-Rudey

Anything for the economy. Well, almost anything.

but,

i thought Al DID invent the internet?

jeez, haven't I been misled.

:)

Kitso
KS 361 more dollars i'd spend on your ring than docet, beth, cuz i'm employed!

Well yes jobs are increasing, but people are being paid less and have less benefits then they did before they were laid off to begin with. So more people are part of "middle class" poverty, barely being able to support their families. Most of this "boom" reflects the richest people getting much richer. In fact what is happening now is that there is a much wider gap between the very rich and the very poor, while the middle class is disapearing.


WOW, isn't that great boys and girls? Now we get to work for less and have no benefits, while the boss buys another Lexus.

Your "economic boom" can kiss my ass.

Eh, the economy isn't out of the clear yet.

This isn't an attack so don't take it as such.

Productivity isn't really at an all time high. There have been far too many mass layoffs lately to warrant such a rise. There simply isn't enough manpower to create such a rise in productivity.

But, the stock market isn't really "kicking butt" it has been doing better but it's not up to radical greatness as of yet. There have been a few days of significant stock price increases but it can change with the drop of a hat.

Wages are at recent highs but the unemployment rate is barely dropping (if at all) but instead large corporate layoffs are slowing down. It's at something like 6% right now and companies need to start hiring people - lots of people and quit laying people off in order for that to start declining.

Consumer spending along with consumer confidence is up which is good but that's only part of the "bigger scheme of things."


Hold on tight kiddos, we still have a ways to go. But I do like the way things are looking as of right now.

Like I said, the numbers lie.

Ah, yet I didn't claime false on any numbers.

It's not a liberal view, a conservative view or even an indie view but simply the current situation of the economy.

I would not say that we are booming. I simple referred to current stats. Productivity IS at an all time high in the U.S. according to government figures. Average income is at an all time high dollar wise, perhaps not buying power, but dollar wise. Unemployment is at it's lowest point sine Jan 2002. The stock market is consistently up week after week. The economy took a hit and is now on the rebound. I'm not going to shout about it, but the numbers are positive. The economy could change in a heartbeat. Some would love to see the bottom drop out of the current rebound for partisan reasons.

Where did you get these figures and stats?

I'd like to see more tax cuts for people in my pay range. What they need to do is stop taking away my damn money and giving it to poor old people. They can send those bastards out to Alaska like Eskimos do with their weak people and see how long they survive.

-Rudey
--A frigging hell of a lot of money taken from my paycheck today grrr.

You can get the numbers from the U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics. This has all been in the news. Perhaps it depends of what network you watch. The Wall Street Journal has been reporting this for weeks.

You can get the numbers from their site. Of course, what would the Department of Labor know about the subject?

Verbatim email from my Political Science professor:

Here's a more detailed answer to the question about what Al Gore did.

In the 1980s he was chairman of the Senate subcommittee on Science, Technology, and Space. In this role, he is widely acknowledged to be one of the few American politicians who took the time to understand technology. He had been an enthusiastic supporter of the National Science Foundation's supercomputer centers, and in 1986 sponsored legislation asking the government to study the possibility of networking these centers with fiber optics. The report that came back was massively thick and involved many agencies. It advocated building more better faster bigger computers to facilitate advanced research and a national research and education computer network. Gore was distracted by the elections of 1988, but eventually held hearings and sponsored legislation to do more or less that. It took until 1991 for the computer part of the legislation to pass and 1993 for the network part of the legislation to be signed into law.

In 1994 Gore gave a speech about the 'Information Super Highway Summit' in which he was one of the first American politicians to publicly express appreciation that something important was happening with the development of the internet. You can read his remarks at: http://artcontext.com/cal/97/superhig.txt.

The statement for which he has been ridiculed was made in a 1999 interview with Wolf Blitzer. He said:

During my service in the United States Congress, I took the initiative in creating the Internet. I took the initiative in moving forward a whole range of initiatives that have proven to be important to our country's economic growth and environmental protection, improvements in our educational system.

You can read the transcript at: http://www.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/stori...anscript.gore/

For what it is worth, Vint Cerf, who has been called 'the father of the Internet' for his role in creating the TCP/IP protocol said: "I think it is very fair to say that the Internet would not be where it is in the United States without the strong support given to it and related research areas by the vice president in his current role and in his earlier role as senator."

Enough.

Dr. McCormick

Actually, killa, unemployment stayed constant over the last month. As for average wages being at all-time highs, are those real or nominal wages? Bush also has nothing to do with interest rates, which are determined by the Federal Open Market Committee.

Here's some stats to ponder. They're real. I didn't make them up.

BY THE NUMBERS
Key economic indicators


Click an indicator name to learn more
Period Latest Prev.
• Consumer Confidence Oct.* 81.1 77.0
• Retail sales Sept* -0.2% 1.2%
• GDP Q2 3.3% 1.4%
• ISM Index Sept 53.7 54.7
• Factory Orders Aug* -0.8% 2.0%
• Unemployment Rate Sept 6.1% 6.1%
• Employment situation Sept* 57,000 -41,000
• Consumer inflation Sept 1.2% 1.3%
• Housing starts Sept* 1,888,000 1,826,000
• Home sales Sept* 7,835,000 7,607,000

I'm too lazy to format them, so go here to see them in a more readable format.

Actually, Killa, here are the unemployment numbers...


2003 Labor Force Employment Unemployment Unemp. Rate
January 17,578,500 16,415,400 1,163,100 6.6%
February 17,600,900 16,422,000 1,178,900 6.7%
March 17,627,900 16,448,600 1,179,400 6.7%
April 17,630,800 16,429,300 1,201,500 6.8%
May 17,578,300 16,394,700 1,183,600 6.7%
June 17,651,800 16,452,900 1,198,800 6.8%
July 17,661,100 16,471,800 1,189,500 6.7%
August 17,593,100 16,410,500 1,182,500 6.7%
September 17,568,600 16,449,700 1,118,800 6.4%
October
November
December


2002 Labor Force Employment Unemployment Unemp. Rate
January 17,313,700 16,198,600 1,115,200 6.4%
February 17,348,800 16,218,300 1,130,600 6.5%
March 17,357,400 16,211,200 1,146,200 6.6%
April 17,374,400 16,220,100 1,154,400 6.6%
May 17,363,000 16,222,700 1,140,300 6.6%
June 17,392,700 16,228,600 1,164,100 6.7%
July 17,415,700 16,243,000 1,172,700 6.7%
August 17,394,600 16,230,400 1,164,300 6.7%
September 17,422,300 16,246,800 1,175,500 6.7%
October 17,473,900 16,285,800 1,188,100 6.8%
November 17,503,000 16,305,900 1,197,100 6.8%
December 17,497,800 16,291,500 1,206,300 6.9%


Septmeber 2003 is at 6.4. Not great, but on the way down. October 2003 is not in yet.

According to the Bureau of Economic Analysis the Real GDP increased at an annual rate of 7.2 percent in Q3 2003, according to advance estimates. . Up, up, up... but the numbers lie.

Killa!

settle down there Hillary.

I was just joking, i've read before that Al never really said he created in the internet, (i think on snopes.com) i was just having fun.

but i am honored that you took the time to email your PoliSci prof to rebuke me.

Kitso
KS 361 times maybe i'll send a copy of decadence's posts to my history of western Rhetoric prof to see if he can decypher them

If he can do that, I will nominate him for Noble Prize for Literature

Unemployment has very little to do with GDP growth. GDP growth over time will trickle down and lead to more jobs. It will just take a little time for companies to gain confidance that consumer spending is still on the rise. Typically 60% of GDP is consumer spending. Once consumer confidance and investor confidance goes up, then they will add more jobs to further increase output.

GDP is obviously a great way to measure economic growth. But IMO the unemployment rate is the ultimate measure of the well-being of the economy. 7% growth in GDP is great but it only makes a difference in unemployment if it lasts for many many quarters. I doubt we will have 7% growth this quarter......

You're right about the relationship between unemployment figures and the GDP. I was simply giving current figures. Let's see... more bad numbers... Personal income went up .02 percent. Wicked corporate American had 80 plus billion in profits in the 2nd qtr... bad, bad, bad!

Unemployment figures also drop when unemployed people get frustrated and STOP looking for jobs which is a lot of what we have been seeing. They are still unemployed, they just gave up looking so they are no longer included in the calculations.

Coming from one of the states at the top in unemployment, we have a LONG way to go.

And the stock market isn't anywhere NEAR where it was a couple of years ago. It's not even close to the highs in the 10K's that we've seen it hit.

Oooooohhhh........ 0.02% increase in personal income. Not even enough to buy a new cd.

You realize you guys really don't understand any economics right? Some of you say some really bizarre shiznit.

-Rudey
--Everyone needs to know I'm ridiculously smart.

please, enlighten us.

Kitso
KS 361 times no seriously, who's talkin out their ass? I'm a coach.

I'm also employed - in fact, just got home from work. Not to mention i'm also rich :)

uh, no?

let's stop lauding presidents for economic growth, period, there's no foundation for it.

except for my keynesian brother, Ron dot reagan, he can stay.

Not allowed dude, you lose five points.


I agree with rudey and people saying weird shizzle.
But I can't give you any points this time.

HAHA! We already had that email, I'm in a class called "Politics of the Internet" so naturally our good friend Al came up. And I'm way cuter than Hillary, tyvm.

Provide a link. Where do those numbers come from? Also, anybody who's had Econ knows that unemployment figures really aren't counted correctly. And that's according to my NRA member Republican party belonging professor, just so you don't call me a whiny liberal.

if the economy is "booming" why am I still broke :( ;)

I keep hearing rumors this is going to be a good holiday season for retailers, but everyone I know is doing secret santa because they are oh so broke like me.