On its face, Friday’s announcement that the nation’s gross domestic product expanded at a 2.5 percent annual rate in the first quarter was good news, following as it did an only marginally positive result for the previous three-month period.
But, alas, that rosy headline figure masked disturbing signs: an economy whose recovery has failed to match the pace of past expansions may now be facing a deceleration in its own modest growth rate.
Start with the G.D.P. figures, which can be misleading because of temporary fluctuations in the inventories maintained by businesses. Adjusted for those changes, the economy’s annualized growth rate shows a steady deceleration over the past three quarters, from 2.4 percent to 1.9 percent to 1.5 percent.
Read more: http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/04/29/the-warnings-behind-the-numbers/
But, alas, that rosy headline figure masked disturbing signs: an economy whose recovery has failed to match the pace of past expansions may now be facing a deceleration in its own modest growth rate.
Start with the G.D.P. figures, which can be misleading because of temporary fluctuations in the inventories maintained by businesses. Adjusted for those changes, the economy’s annualized growth rate shows a steady deceleration over the past three quarters, from 2.4 percent to 1.9 percent to 1.5 percent.
Read more: http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/04/29/the-warnings-behind-the-numbers/
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