Economy still sputtering [Should read Economy grows 20% faster than predicted!!]

CNN Money ^ | 04/30/08 | Chris Isidore

[SoFloFreeper]

The nation's economy continued its sluggish growth in the first quarter...at an annual rate of 0.6%...Economists surveyed by Briefing.com had forecast growth would slow to a 0.5% gain in the most recent quarter.

[SoFloFreeper]

So let's do some SIMPLE math; that is a challenge for most journalists, I know...but if the economy grew at .6%, and they expected it to grow by .5%, then the economy EXCEEDED expectations by 20%.

Let's see if any Drive Bys figure that out.

[vietvet67]

Government reports and surveyed economists.

Now there’s two reliable sources.. :-)

[ClearCase_guy]

ECONOMY EXCEEDS EXPECTATIONS

Economists across the country expressed relief as the US economy defied all expectations and increased 20% more than had been projected. "Looks like the downturn isn't going to happen," said Harvard Professor A.B. Normal. "We were worried that a recession might be starting, but this continued expansion of the US economy is a real cause for celebration."

[contemplator]

The media cannot resist the opportunity to put as hard of a negative spin on this as they dare. This level of growth was praised, applauded and pointed to as a model by the media for years..... when it applied to France and other European countries.

[MEGoody]

That’s not negative growth, so obviously, we aren’t in an official recession as yet.

[mountainlion]

Gold price have dropped to below $900 that is about $150 and no one even mentioned it.

[Redmen4ever]

According to Warren Buffet, things are worse than they seem. Or, you are you going to believe, the fact that we’re not in a recession, just in a period of slow growth, or the Oracle of Omaha?

[GulfBreeze]

I don't believe a d@mn thing buffet says. If he was so worried about the state of the economy, why did he just loan $6 BILLION to one candy company(Mars) to buy a chewing gum company (Wrigley's).

He is a communist plain and simple. He seeks to manipulate the fears of the masses to achieve a certain political gain.

[Ribbis]

Unless I misunderstand the article, I’m not sure taking the percent change in a percent change is reasonable. To calculate the change in expectations from 0.5 to 0.6, you might have to re-numerate the data back into U.S. dollars. Since the percentages are already unit-less, their percent difference, beyond subtraction, is the only useful info. I quickly looked for the GDP figures in GoogleNews but didn’t immediately see them. Hope that helps.

[ClearCase_guy]

Buffet knows how to make money. He focuses his energy on that, and he’s good at it. As to whether he focuses his attention on honestly communicating to others about the economy, well ... I’m not sure he’s interested in that. I think Sun Tzu may have something to say about misleading your opponent ...

[dragnet2]

To be honest, I am at a point where I do not believe a single word out of anyone working for this government.

[Recovering_Democrat]

bttt