Forum Post: Even a positive GDP may actually be an economic contraction
Posted 9 years ago on June 1, 2014, 3:38 p.m. EST by sky99
(0)
This content is user submitted and not an official statement
Everyone is commenting how the GDP contracted in the first quarter. What most people probably don't realize is that even when the GDP seems to be growing, it may actually be contracting. An article in the Tampa Bay Times from 2008 “Hard Numbers: The economy is worse than you know” describes how presidents since Kennedy have juiced the economic numbers such as the GDP, CPI and monthly unemployment data, to make them appear better than they truly are.
Because of this finagling of the numbers, any GDP under 2% may actually represent a contracting economy.
Post brings up memories of Ronald Reagan speaking of "Negative Economic Growth".