Friday, January 30, 2009

GDP

The Lehmann Letter ©

Today the Bureau of Economic analysis released
(http://www.bea.gov/national/nipaweb/TableView.asp?SelectedTable=6&Freq=Qtr&FirstYear=2006&LastYear=2008)
these GDP data (in $billions):

.........2008-I.... 2008-II...2008-III......2008-IV
GDP..11,646.....11,727.4.....11,712.4.....11,599.4
C........8,316.1.....8,341.3......8,260.6......8,186.9
I.......1,754.7......1,702.0.....1,703.7.......1,648.5
(X-M)-462.0.......-381.3.......-353.1........-356.4
G.......2,039.1......2,058.9.....2,088,1......2,097.7
C = Consumption
I = Investment
(X-M) = Net Exports
G= Government

Notice that, for the first time, every component except government expenditures fell. (Since net exports were negative because imports exceeded exports in all quarters, a larger number indicates a drop.) Consumption and investment declined by large amounts. The domestic private economy is contracting rapidly.

There is every indication that will continue into 2009.

© 2009 Michael B. Lehmann

1 comment:

Unknown said...

Professor Lehmann,
Thank you for posting your perspective here. Thanks too for making it much easier to find information on the economy and business cycle. This is important, but you already know that. Please keep it up.