Today's Economic Numbers

Some brief commentary on the economic news today. First, the GDP numbers. They were OK, but not enough to help the White House. The good news is we are not tipping into another recession, the bad news is we are stumbling along in a pattern of mediocrity that won't be strong enough to have people feel good about the economy and their lives. As I have written before, this economy stinks for Joe Six Pack. And, as the stock market action today shows, life is OK for investors - not great but not nearly the troubles that the average working person is experiencing. To my mind this is a classic lefty economy - with policies designed to appeal to middle income workers superficially, but that harm them in actuality. Just check out Drudge's headline about the dollar - the Euro-driven fear premium is coming out of the dollar and the bad investment climate and profligate government spending fundamentals here in the US are taking center stage again. That's too bad for poor to middle income people whose purchasing power benefits from cheaper imported goods. Those goods will now be more expensive.

Classic lefty economy, the rich do OK, or at worst stay static, while the poor and middle class take it on the chin. Even though it is a caricatured view of a conservative economy, I bet many Americans would trade this economy for one where the rich do quite well and so do the poor and middle class. We'll see, such a choice is pending in the near future.