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semperdark 8y ago
Quarterly GDP growth was 4.1%, which is not unprecedented at all, if uncommon. We had a quarter of 5.1% growth in 2014. Annual GDP growth of 4.1% would be a really big deal.
- jerrycruncher 8y ago
  It's not even terribly uncommon. This is the fourth time in eight years[1] we've seen a quarterly growth of over 4%. [1] https://twitter.com/paulkrugman/status/1022913401167720454 https://twitter.com/paulkrugman/status/1022913401167720454
endorphone 8y ago
Unprecedented? It isn't unprecedented at all. It is entirely pedestrian. Add that it was substantially caused by a) a massive burst of government spending, b) foreign buyers front-loading delivery to beat out pending trade wars. It is going to get ugly from here. The American economy is pretty much at 100% right now, as any chart could tell you has been the result of almost 10 years of growth since the financial crisis. Which is why it is shocking and startling that it is coupled with extraordinary deficits approaching a trillion dollars. This is the time when the government is supposed to be eliminating deficits, not blowing them up. The US debt is simply grotesquely unsustainable, and when even the anti-deficit right has ceded the fight...bad times are ahead. So yes, the US economy is a "terror" movie of sorts. It is so profoundly irrational that it has some serious jump scares coming up. As an aside - Trump is boasting about a steel maker making record profits. Ignore that it cost $12B in taxpayer money to farmers in a single year, and will cost billions more, and that it dramatically increased the prices for US consumers and threatened a wide swath of manufacturers...at least US Steel is making money, right?
- ataturk 8y ago
  Except that I've heard the "bad times ahead" mantra so many times over the years that I simply don't believe it anymore. We were supposed to have collapsed by now. Meh. The entire opinion piece is fearmongering bs. Self-driving cars were even thrown in as some kind nefarious bugaboo. China taking over Taiwan, etc. All bullcrap.

[deleted]

Quarterly GDP growth was 4.1%, which is not unprecedented at all, if uncommon. We had a quarter of 5.1% growth in 2014. Annual GDP growth of 4.1% would be a really big deal.

jerrycruncher 8y ago
It's not even terribly uncommon. This is the fourth time in eight years[1] we've seen a quarterly growth of over 4%. [1] https://twitter.com/paulkrugman/status/1022913401167720454 https://twitter.com/paulkrugman/status/1022913401167720454

endorphone 8y ago

Unprecedented? It isn't unprecedented at all. It is entirely pedestrian. Add that it was substantially caused by a) a massive burst of government spending, b) foreign buyers front-loading delivery to beat out pending trade wars. It is going to get ugly from here. The American economy is pretty much at 100% right now, as any chart could tell you has been the result of almost 10 years of growth since the financial crisis. Which is why it is shocking and startling that it is coupled with extraordinary deficits approaching a trillion dollars. This is the time when the government is supposed to be eliminating deficits, not blowing them up. The US debt is simply grotesquely unsustainable, and when even the anti-deficit right has ceded the fight...bad times are ahead. So yes, the US economy is a "terror" movie of sorts. It is so profoundly irrational that it has some serious jump scares coming up. As an aside - Trump is boasting about a steel maker making record profits. Ignore that it cost $12B in taxpayer money to farmers in a single year, and will cost billions more, and that it dramatically increased the prices for US consumers and threatened a wide swath of manufacturers...at least US Steel is making money, right?

ataturk 8y ago
Except that I've heard the "bad times ahead" mantra so many times over the years that I simply don't believe it anymore. We were supposed to have collapsed by now. Meh. The entire opinion piece is fearmongering bs. Self-driving cars were even thrown in as some kind nefarious bugaboo. China taking over Taiwan, etc. All bullcrap.