31 July 2009

A Long Recession

The second quarter of 2009 was the fourth consecutive quarter that that inflation adjusted gross domestic product, as measured by the U.S. Government's Bureau of Economic Analysis, has declined by 1.0%.

This is the first time that this has happened since the government started keeping quarterly records in 1947. Annual records go back to 1930. On an annual basis, there was negative economic growth in the years 1930-1933, 1938, and 1945-1947.

The decline in GDP so far in 2009 exceeds the annual decline in GDP for every year on record except 1930, 1932 and 1946. Of course, some of this year's decline could be offset with growth in the third or fourth quarter.

In absolute terms, even before accounting for population growth, the United States gross domestic product was lower in the second quarter of 2000 than it was in the third quarter of 2007, and in every quarter since then.

1 comment:

Brian said...

This simply shows the credit market is still not healthy. Without credit, it's not easy to buy raw materials. It's odd, though, that the analysts keep trying to spin that 'things are improving' in the news reports. I guess they figure if they hammer that sentiment to enough people that the economy will improve from will power alone.