Obama's Huge Unprecedented 3.5% Growth Rate Revised Down to Equally Huge and Equally Unprecedented 2.2%

As I expected, the number was revised down. First to 2.8%, which is exactly what I thought it would be revised down to, but now again down to a mere 2.2%.

3.5% wasn't really gangbusters in the first place, but o, did they prance with it like a dog with a tennis ball in its mouth."

The NYT spins a lot here. The headline the article that 3Q is weaker than thought, but don't actually address the downward revision until the eighth paragraph.

Instead they choose to begin:

The nascent economic recovery was weaker than expected in the third quarter, the government said Tuesday, held back by slow business construction and dwindling inventories.

While the results tempered some of the enthusiasm about the speed of economic renewal, analysts still foresee steady, and stronger, growth in the fourth quarter, as exports rise and an improved jobs market encourages consumer spending.

...and then they bore you for the next five paragraphs with insdery-stuff about the housing market.

You know -- exactly how they used to play Bush's good growth numbers, pretty much, just the opposite. First, start out with some broad generalizations warning of "storm clouds on the horizons," then yap about some less grabby numbers for a while, and then note that Bush's initial 3.1% GDP quarterly growth was revised up to 3.8%, after the audience had been successfully lost.

Thanks to TomVG.

posted by Ace at 12:33 PM

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