So, April’s consumer spending went down 0.1%. In the US, consumer spending accounts for 70% of our GDP. In the first quarter of this year, our total GDP was in the negative. Now, this.
In spite of the actual news, the lunatics are still predicting a great 2nd quarter.
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. consumers cut back on spending in April for the first time in a year, taking an unexpected pause after a big jump during the previous month. The results, however, are unlikely to derail an expected spring rebound in the economy.
Consumer spending, which accounts for 70 percent of overall economic activity, fell 0.1 percent in April, the Commerce Department said Friday. The drop was the first in 12 months. But it followed a 1 percent surge in spending in March, which marked the biggest increase in more than four years. …..
Inflation, as measured by a gauge tied to spending, showed prices rising 1.6 percent from a year ago, up from a 1.1 percent year-over-year price gain in March. However, even with the increase, inflation remains below the Federal Reserve’s 2 percent target. ….
Friday’s data follows news the previous day that the overall economy shrank 1 percent in the January-March quarter. It was the first contraction in three years and was blamed on a number of special factors including an unusually harsh winter.
Economists estimate that further gains in hiring will boost consumer confidence and spending in the coming months, driving overall economic growth as measured by the gross domestic product. Some analysts say GDP growth could hit an annual rate of 4 percent in the second quarter and top 3 percent in the second half of this year.
With consumer spending down in April, we’re not going to get to 4% for the 2nd quarter. Apparently, our inflation gauge doesn’t include meat prices. And, yeh, essentially they’re saying winter caused our economy to contract. Propaganda in its finest form.
suyts space 
Is tourist spending, considered consumer spending??
…Florida had a record tourist season this year
Yes. But, that’s just Florida. The record is prolly because no one likes Cali, anymore.
From what I saw, it looked like no one liked Canada anymore!…
Yeah if that’s the case, then so be it! I’ve seen that fervor about Canada before, I’ve seen that in my own provience. What can ya do about it! Sooner or later they’ll see a diferent picture, or they will be just as stunned as what they were told.
So they will learn the hard way.
I think Lat was talking about the cold.
Well if that’s the case, you’d think there be more spending there from the snowbirds than less. And it’s been pretty cold and still up here.
Have you already started to include blow and hookers in your GDP?
LOL, I think via proxy it does. 😀
4% would be real growth, SOmething Obama has never seen. Or will see.
So for the outlook –
Stagflation anyone?
Also of note for this year is that the Food Safety Modernization Act kicks in soon. Yep, a whole raft of new regulations, for farmers, food processors, food retailers, even your locally grown and harvested fruit sellers, even domestic food suppliers.
Thats bound to help food prices?
As it says at http://www.foodsafety.gov/news/fsma.html
Food Safety Modernization Act: Putting the Focus on Prevention
and to ensure all the money gets spent and then some…
Should improve the job prospects for even more bureaucrats, eh? But your food up-till-now has been so unsafe, you just know that it will reduce all the food scares, right?
Here’s my prediction. Food scares will become more common and the real ones more deadly. Whether by design or chance, it will worse than we thought, never mind that things were really bad prior to the spread of simple sanitation procedures.
Higher barriers to entry – rising prices on legal market, higher incentive for grey market. (cash only / barter / self consumption / subsistence farming)
Meaning also that some fraction of the GDP will go underground.
I can see no fault in your predictions.
The problem will be that the larger producers will be tarred and feather for being the cause of the poor food hygene.
Like them, or loath them, the big food producer/suppliers keep the majority cost-effectively and reasonably sustained now. Their future looks darker.
No; big producers ALWAYS support tougher regulation – they can spread the cost over more units, smaller producers will go out of business, this allows the larger producer to recoup the compliance cost by raising prices. Higher barrier to entry results in less competition and less choice, always.
Yes I see that but these regulations are not tougher per se but inadequate for what they are supposed to do.
My main point is that people will end up with less choice, more cost, and less hygenic food. Big food companies will spread the costs but these regulation will not ensure safer food.
I believe (and maybe proved wrong) that government will blame food companies, and they in turn will blame government – I think people will blame the food companies with MSM cooperation of course.
The blame game is only circus for the masses during election campaigns.
Just like Obama didn’t do anything against theTBTF banks after coming to power.
Exactly right. This was how we got the Pure Food and Drug Act in the first place. Regulations, qua regulations, don’t ensure a thing. Effective measures, particularly economical effective measure do ensure improvements. Sooner or later you hit the point of diminishing returns. ‘Regulators’ never get that (nor do statist masterminds). All of these rules could be rolled back to 1990 levels and we wouldn’t notice a thing except cheaper goods, even with the Great Inflation done since then.