U.S. Economic Growth Slowed to 2.4% Rate in 2nd Quarter
The United States economy expanded at an annual rate of 2.4 percent in the second quarter, after expanding a revised 3.7 percent in the previous three months, the Commerce Department reported on Friday.
This is a political disaster for Democrats. There’s no way to spin a 2.4% GDP rate as a positive step in a recovery. Worse yet, the pattern has been to revise these numbers downwards when Commerce firms up its data. The next statement of Q2 GDP will come on August 27, just before Congress comes back in session and right at the prime time of summer campaign season, just a week before Labor Day. If this drops much lower in the next iteration, Democrats will have to explain the failure of their economic program to angry voters across the nation — and they’re not going to want to hear “It’s Bush’s fault!” two years after electing Obama and four years after giving Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid control of Congress.
With growth in the private sector pretty much moribund, it’s unlikely.
