For fun why don’t we talk economics today?  Damn, so quiet we can hear a pin drop…..I can hear all those rectums slamming shut……..damn I like this stuff!

Gross Domestic Product (GDP)……..The monetary value of all the finished goods and services produced within a country’s borders in a specific time period, though GDP is usually calculated on an annual basis. It includes all of private and public consumption, government outlays, investments and exports less imports that occur within a defined territory.

In a recent report it was said the economy was limping into the recovery….it feel short of expectations……it grew at an anemic 0.1%, that is one tenth of one percent…………and what does that mean to the country?

This from Bankrupting America………

1. What Drove Economic Growth In The First Quarter? Consumer Spending. Market Watch reported that consumer spending increased 3.0 percent in the first quarter, slightly down from a 3.3 percent increase from the last quarter. Consumer spending accounts for more than two-thirds of economic output in the U.S. so a continuing growth rate in this category is a good sign.
2. If Consumer Spending Growth Rose, What Was The Money Spent On? Healthcare.  Healthcare spending rose 9.9 percent in the first quarter of 2014, the largest increase in the growth since 1980. The rapid increase in health care spending was primarily because of the implementation and enrollment deadlines of the Affordable Care Act. According to Business Insider, “The first-quarter advance estimate reflects spending from January through March, the first three months when millions of people who gained insurance by signing up on exchanges established by the law or by qualifying for Medicaid coverage under the program’s expansion.”
3. What Hurt Economic Growth In The First Quarter? Business Spending. Business investment spending dropped considerably this quarter, according to the report. Fixed nonresidential (business) investment fell at a rate of 2.1 percent after a 5.7 percent increase last quarter. The Wall Street Journal reports that business equipment spending experienced the worst drop since the second quarter of 2009, with a decrease of 5.5 percent.
4. What’s Going On With The Housing Market? After dropping last quarter, investment in the housing market continues to decline. Investment in home building and improvement decreased 5.7 percent after a decrease of 7.9 percent in the last quarter. The Wall Street Journal points to a low level of home sales, low housing inventory, and increasing mortgage rates as contributing factors to the slowing of the housing market.
5. What Was The Reaction From Economists? Most economists were surprised by the weak report, after a general consensus that the U.S. economy would grow at a rate of 1.1 or 1.2 percent for the first quarter. Dan North, chief economist at a credit insurance firm, noted in a New York Times interview that if growth does increase over the year, it probably won’t be a sign of a stronger economy: “’We’ve been living in sub-3 percent land, and people have gotten used to that as the new normal,’ Mr. North said in an interview before the Commerce Department announcement. ‘But it’s not. It’s anemic.’”

The economy just keeps creeping along………but why?  Could it be that as long as it is anemic then the corporations get everything they want with the promise that if they do the economy will boom?

Is this a plan?  Or is it just the luck of the draw?