Cowbell Interruptus? Economy Growing At Good Clip Before Hurricanes

Another quarter of better than 3% GDP growth. 3.3%, actually, and these numbers tend to get revised upwards.

The 3.3 percent growth rate for the April-to-June quarter was unchanged from an estimate made a month ago. That performance met analysts' expectations. In first three months of the year, the economy grew at a healthy 3.8 percent pace.

In the aftermath of the two hurricanes, however, economists are predicting that production and hiring will take a hit, slowing overall economic activity in the second half of this year to a pace of around 3 percent. Before the hurricanes, second-half growth was expected to top 4 percent.

The Labor Department, in a separate report issued Thursday, said the number of Americans thrown out of work by Katrina climbed by another 60,000 last week, pushing the total number of unemployed workers seeking jobless benefits because of the storm to 279,000.

The economy will need a boost. We've cut taxes. How about Republicans acting like real-life Republicans and cutting wasteful porkbarrel spending?

Why is it the "party of fiscal responsibility" and "party of limited government" seems to have no interest at all in saving a trillion dollars over ten years? And letting that money stay in the pockets of citizens, where they claim they'd like it to stay?

posted by Ace at 11:22 AM

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