Because of the economic uncertainty, businesses have been slow to hire - even though they are sitting on plenty of cash.
The "Great Recession" was worse than we thought.
New figures released by the feds Friday showed the U.S. economy contracted by 5.1% after the recession began on former President Bush's watch in 2007.
That's a whole percentage point more than previously thought, the Commerce Department's Bureau of Economic Analysis reported.
"The depth of the recession is now clearly so much deeper," Nigel Gault, an economist at IHS Global Insight, told the Associated Press.
The new figures also confirmed the recovery from the recession under President Obama has been weaker and slower than economists thought - dire news that sent Stock Market prices plunging Friday.
There have been 10 recessions since World War II, each followed by a quick recovery. Not this time.
While the economy has been expanding since Obama took office and the recession ended in 2009, it stalled this year.
The economic growth rate was a woeful 0.4% from January through March and an anemic 1.3% from April through June, the feds reported Friday.
"The numbers are extremely bad," Gault said. "The momentum in the economy is clearly very weak."
Most economists believe high gas, weak consumer spending and government cutbacks are to blame for the slow growth.
Also, because of the economic uncertainty, businesses have been slow to hire - even though they are sitting on plenty of cash.
The result is an unemployment rate that's currently at 9.2% - and 14 million Americans are out of work.
The "Great Recession" was worse than we thought.
New figures released by the feds Friday showed the U.S. economy contracted by 5.1% after the recession began on former President Bush's watch in 2007.
That's a whole percentage point more than previously thought, the Commerce Department's Bureau of Economic Analysis reported.
"The depth of the recession is now clearly so much deeper," Nigel Gault, an economist at IHS Global Insight, told the Associated Press.
The new figures also confirmed the recovery from the recession under President Obama has been weaker and slower than economists thought - dire news that sent Stock Market prices plunging Friday.
There have been 10 recessions since World War II, each followed by a quick recovery. Not this time.
While the economy has been expanding since Obama took office and the recession ended in 2009, it stalled this year.
The economic growth rate was a woeful 0.4% from January through March and an anemic 1.3% from April through June, the feds reported Friday.
"The numbers are extremely bad," Gault said. "The momentum in the economy is clearly very weak."
Most economists believe high gas, weak consumer spending and government cutbacks are to blame for the slow growth.
Also, because of the economic uncertainty, businesses have been slow to hire - even though they are sitting on plenty of cash.
The result is an unemployment rate that's currently at 9.2% - and 14 million Americans are out of work.
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