Thursday, April 28, 2005

AP Bemoans 3.1% Growth

Reading this AP article, you would think that we are at the precipice of economic disaster. Well, being it's a Republican administration we all know it doesn't take much to send them into a fit of vapors.

Stung by high energy prices, consumers and businesses cut back on other spending in the first quarter, causing the economy to log its slowest growth in two years.

Well, the ever astute folks at Polipundit know better:

..... to put things into perspective, what, pray tell, was real GDP growth in the first quarter of 1997, when the media used to swoon about the economy nearly every single day? Yep, you guessed it, the very same 3.1 percent. In fact, in between January 1, 1996 and December 31, 1997, and despite the brewing tech/telecom mania, there were three separate quarters in which real GDP growth (annualized) came in at or below last quarter’s 3.1 percent expansion. (See here.)

There you are, same news, opposite take. Hypocracy.... or maybe their opinions are just evolving.

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