Anxiety Mounts as US Economy Limps Into 2nd Half
A slew of weak U.S. economic data is casting doubts over expectations of a pick-up in growth in the second half of the year.
From manufacturing to job growth to consumer spending, the numbers have been grim, and economists are wondering whether they need to dial down forecasts for the remainder of the year.
"Our sense was that of a gradual improvement. Now the sense is of muddling along at a low level of activity," said Adolfo Laurenti, deputy chief economist at Mesirow Financial in Chicago. "We went from seeing progress, though gradual and very uneven, to not seeing progress at all."
Fading Auto Stimulus
Growth in the first half of the year was largely driven by automobile production and sales, which accounted for about 61 percent of the period's 1.9 percent increase in GDP.
Sales were boosted by pent-up demand after last year's earthquake and tsunami in Japan left U.S. showrooms bereft of popular models.
But economists say that demand now seems largely exhausted. They also point out that most of the purchases were by companies replacing their fleets. That suggests less support for the economy from autos in the future, particularly since much of the spending was funded from savings.
"Given the weak labor market, we are going to see consumers become a little cautious on vehicle purchases," said Ryan Sweet, a senior economist at Moody's Analytics in West Chester Pennsylvania. "With gasoline prices coming off the boil, there is less of an urgency to go out and trade in gas-guzzlers for more efficient cars. Consumers are not going to shoulder the recovery, spending is not going lead overall growth."
Read More: http://www.cnbc.com/id/48086345
- It is hard to believe, but today the poverty rate for children living in the United States is a whopping 22 percent.
- According to U.S. Representative Betty Sutton, an average of 23 manufacturing facilities permanently shut down in the United States every single day during 2010.
- Back in 2007, about 10 percent of all unemployed Americans had been out of work for 52 weeks or longer. Today, that number is above 30 percent.
The amount of money that the federal government gives directly to Americans has increased by 32 percent since Barack Obama entered the White House.
- U.S. housing prices are now down a total of 35 percent from the peak of the housing bubble.
- The official U.S. unemployment rate has been above 8 percent for 40 months in a row.
- According to one survey, 42 percent of all American workers are currently living paycheck to paycheck.
- Shockingly, at this point 48 percent of all Americans are either considered to be “low income” or are living in poverty.
- Today, an astounding 49.1 percent of all Americans live in a home where at least one person receives benefits from the government.
- Last year, an astounding 53 percent of all U.S. col...
- It is hard to believe, but today the poverty rate for children living in the United States is a whopping 22 percent.
- According to U.S. Representative Betty Sutton, an average of 23 manufacturing facilities permanently shut down in the United States every single day during 2010.
- Back in 2007, about 10 percent of all unemployed Americans had been out of work for 52 weeks or longer. Today, that number is above 30 percent.
The amount of money that the federal government gives directly to Americans has increased by 32 percent since Barack Obama entered the White House.
- U.S. housing prices are now down a total of 35 percent from the peak of the housing bubble.
- The official U.S. unemployment rate has been above 8 percent for 40 months in a row.
- According to one survey, 42 percent of all American workers are currently living paycheck to paycheck.
- Shockingly, at this point 48 percent of all Americans are either considered to be “low income” or are living in poverty.
- Today, an astounding 49.1 percent of all Americans live in a home where at least one person receives benefits from the government.
- Last year, an astounding 53 percent of all U.S. college graduates under the age of 25 were either unemployed or underemployed.
- According to a recent Gallup poll, only 60 percent of all Americans say that they have enough money to live comfortably.
- At this point the Federal Reserve is essentially monetizing much of the U.S. national debt. For example, the Federal Reserve bought up approximately 61 percent of all government debt issued by the U.S. Treasury Department during 2011.
- One recent survey found that 63 percent of all Americans believe that the U.S. economic model is broken.
- Today, 71 percent of all small business owners believe that the U.S. economy is still in a recession.
- Americans buy 80 percent of the pain pills sold on the entire globe each year.
- Credit card debt among Americans in the 25 to 34 year old age bracket has risen by 81 percent since 1989.
- 85 percent of all artificial Christmas trees are made in China.
- According to one survey, 86 percent of Americans workers in their sixties say that they will continue working past their 65th birthday.
- In the United States today, the wealthiest one percent of all Americans have a greater net worth than the bottom 90 percent combined.
- The United States now ranks 93rd in the world in income inequality.
- The middle class continues to shrink - 95 percent of the jobs lost during the last recession were middle class jobs.