[Marxism] About That Recovery

[S. Artesian]

I suggest those interested check, from the safety of course of NYC or Glasgow, etc.  the US BEA's latest release on 2Q US GDP  available at:

http://www.bea.gov/newsreleases/national/gdp/gdpnewsrelease.htm

Careful readers will note that BEA is now comparing quarter-over-quarter and omitting entirely year-on-year comparisons.  So the good news 2Q GDP is down by an annualized rate of only 1 percent from the 1Q.  Of course, 1Q GDP declined at an annualized rate of 6.4 percent, so I believe the light at the end of the tunnel is a little bit further away then one might think.

Almost all of the "positive" indications are actually declines in the rate of descent of the indicators, which is indicative of an object in free-fall reaching its terminal velocity.

Imports decreased twice as fast as exports which is a "positive contribution" as imports are subtracted from GDP figures.

In real dollar amounts y-o-y comparisons 2Q 09 to 2Q 08 show a 4% drop in GDP, putting it below the GDP level of 4Q 2007.