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May 2nd, 2008
May 2nd, 2008
The Verdict is….
…there’s still no recession.
The released numbers about the first quarter 2008 Gross Domestic Product say that the U.S. economy grew at 0.6%. That’s not great, but it’s positive. Recall that the definition of a recession is two consecutive quarters of negative Gross Domestic Product. So, fourth quarter 2007–positive GDP. First quarter 2008–positive GDP.
No recession.
Now, that said, I’m not by any means saying things are fantastic and the economy is going gangbusters. It’s simply not true. The U.S. economy is struggling, inflation is a concern although outside of energy and food, there’s not a lot that is seen statistically. There’s problems all around, but, technically, there’s no recession, not at this time.
But if you count in food and energy (the only big items on the budget besides rent) there’s been a hell of a lot of inflation. Therefore, maybe not recession but the people setting this up need a different way to show the REAL impact of rising prices.