US Economy slows drastically in Spring

[Generator]

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=668&e=20&u=/ap/economy

By MARTIN CRUTSINGER, AP Economics Writer

WASHINGTON - The U.S. economy grew at an annual rate of just 3 percent in the spring, a dramatic slowdown from the rapid pace of the past year, as consumer spending fell to the weakest rate since the slowdown of 2001, the government reported Friday.

The Commerce Department (news - web sites) said that the gross domestic product, the country's total output of goods and services, slowed sharply in the April-June quarter from a 4.5 percent growth rate in the first three months of the year.

The size of the slowdown caught economists by surprise. Many had been looking for GDP (news - web sites) growth to come in around 3.8 percent in the second quarter. Even that would have been a sharp deceleration for an economy that had been growing at a 5.4 percent annual rate through the year ending in March.

[nadinbrzezinski]

1. Yep it is Friday and after the news cycle on the East Coast

You can set your watch by the bad news department

[joefree1]

2. Except there's 47 thousand DUers to spread the bad news

S'cuse me while I go load my e-mail gattling gun. Thanks for the post.

Download the free bumper art here:
http://ediablo.com/eDiabloGallery.html

[Cocoa]

3. Results matter

[amandabeech]

4. LoL!

Someone should be handing out flyers to the 'pugs entering and exiting security at one of *'s weekend stops!

Someone and his or her attorney, that is.

[struggle4progress]

5. kick

:kick:

[ozone_man]

6. When the deficit spending stops

and interest rates rise, I wonder if we will see negative GDP growth. Won't that be a surprise for the economists?