GDP

The preliminary reports on the second quarter GDP are out today and the experts are happy with the 1.7% growth. Since the first quarter results were revised downward from 1.8% to 1.0% it might be a realistic assumption that the second quarter may also be revised downward. The point is that GDP below 2% is very poor by historical standards as the average growth rate in the US since 1980 has been 3.1%. The recession in the early 80’s was statistically worse than the latest and yet within 2 years the GDP was over 7%. It is expected that the GDP will rise quickly after a recession but that has not happened this time. In addition long term unemployment is much worse than in the recovery in the 80’s. Something is wrong and experts disagree on what it is. I don’t trust any of them because their reasons seem to be along party lines and thus they have lost credibility