Friday, July 31, 2009

YAY! GREEN SHOOTS!

YAAAY!

Gross domestic product, the broadest measure of economic activity, fell at a 1 percent annual rate in the April through June quarter, the Commerce Department said.


Oh, wait...


That compares with a 6.4 percent pace of decline in the first quarter, a revision from an earlier estimate of a 5.5 percent rate of decline.


I'm always fascinated by the fact that nobody cares about the revisions. Yes, in the most recent quarter for which we have data the rate of economic contraction was "only" one percent annualized. But the previous quarter was... much worse than previously thought!