Good news, you would think. The economy grew at an 8.2% rate in the third quarter, certifying an end to the recession. But the NY Times' report finds plenty of dark cloud in the silver lining:
The economy grew at an 8.2 percent annual rate in the third quarter, the government reported this morning, a much more torrid pace than the 7.2 percent that was the initial estimate.The rest of the article goes on at length as to why this is probably not such a good thing.
It is the fastest pace of growth since the first three months of 1984. While welcome, economists said growth at that level is not sustainable. Indeed, most expect the rate of growth is slowing in the current quarter.
In large measure, growth in the current quarter will probably slow because consumers will have less cash in their pockets.I'm waiting for Krugman and MoDo to find the truly awful news in this. Posted by Kevin Murphy at November 25, 2003 01:31 PM | TrackBack
"There will be a lot less growth in consumer spending," Mr. Resler said.
At the moment, Mr. Resler said he expected consumer spending to expand at a 1 percent rate in the fourth quarter. And he admitted that there will need to be "some improvement" in retailing activity this month and next to reach that level...
"We will not get all of those two million jobs we have lost back in the next 12 months," he said.
Going forward, "non-farm payrolls probably won't increase that much."