<story><title>U.S. Economy Contracted at Record Rate Last Quarter</title><url>https://www.wsj.com/articles/us-economy-gdp-report-second-quarter-coronavirus-11596061406</url></story><parent_chain></parent_chain><comment><author>civilized</author><text>It didn&amp;#x27;t. It contracted by 9.5% in Q2, which, if repeated for four consecutive quarters, would become 32.9%.&lt;p&gt;Annualized figures &lt;i&gt;might&lt;/i&gt; make sense in ordinary times, but these are not ordinary times.</text></comment>
<story><title>U.S. Economy Contracted at Record Rate Last Quarter</title><url>https://www.wsj.com/articles/us-economy-gdp-report-second-quarter-coronavirus-11596061406</url></story><parent_chain></parent_chain><comment><author>chollida1</author><text>This is getting into scary territory given that the US also spent 3.5 trillion to prop up the economy.&lt;p&gt;Some more &amp;quot;fun facts&amp;quot;:&lt;p&gt;- this is the biggest drop on record for GDP: 32.9%.&lt;p&gt;That far surpasses the previous historical contraction of 10% in 1958.&lt;p&gt;- 19th reporting period where initial jobless claims came in above 1,000,000 that is stunning&lt;p&gt;- Personal consumption: -34.6%&lt;p&gt;- Government spending: +2.7%&lt;p&gt;- 2Q GDP Price Index Falls at A 1.8% Annual Rate&lt;p&gt;- Domestic investment: -49%&lt;p&gt;- 2Q Core PCE Price Index Falls at A 1.1% Annual Rate&lt;p&gt;- 17 million people collecting money from teh government&lt;p&gt;- 2Q Personal Consumption Falls at 34.6% Annual Rate&lt;p&gt;and the kicker&lt;p&gt;When you compare the last three years of Obama’s Presidency vs. Trump’s first three years, Trump’s deficits will be almost $1 trillion greater at $2.47 trillion to $1.51 trillion for Obama. It doesn’t look like Trump’s tax cuts will pay for themselves.&lt;p&gt;The US under Trump will add about the same amount to the nation debt in 4 years as Obama did in 8 and Obama inherited the &amp;quot;great recession&amp;quot;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.whitehouse.gov&amp;#x2F;wp-content&amp;#x2F;uploads&amp;#x2F;2020&amp;#x2F;02&amp;#x2F;budget_fy21.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.whitehouse.gov&amp;#x2F;wp-content&amp;#x2F;uploads&amp;#x2F;2020&amp;#x2F;02&amp;#x2F;budget...&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;For those of you who like to dive into the numbers&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.bea.gov&amp;#x2F;sites&amp;#x2F;default&amp;#x2F;files&amp;#x2F;2020-07&amp;#x2F;tech2q20_adv.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.bea.gov&amp;#x2F;sites&amp;#x2F;default&amp;#x2F;files&amp;#x2F;2020-07&amp;#x2F;tech2q20_adv...&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;From Bloomberg:&lt;p&gt;- Some categories actually added to GDP: consumer spending on cars, recreational goods, housing and utilities (as people worked from home and ran air conditioners longer?), and financial services and insurance.&lt;p&gt;- Other categories in positive territory: information processing equipment at companies (all other categories detracted from GDP), net exports, and government spending.&lt;p&gt;- China has only bought about 23% of its promised purchases for the year from the phase 1 trade deal so we probably can&amp;#x27;t look to China to buy the US out of its depression</text></comment>