Reports this morning that the economy underperformed forecasts in the first quarter can't be good news for lawmakers who just bet the bank that the good times would roll on forever. Here's the story from CNNMoney.com.
Economic growth sank to the slowest pace in four years in the first quarter, the government reported Friday, as the weak housing market, coupled with higher prices, took a big bite out of the world's largest economy.
While a slowdown had been expected, the reading came in far weaker than most economists' forecasts. Sluggish spending by businesses was another culprit.
While Washington has recently been stronger than the US economy, we're not immune from the effects of a national slowdown. Increasing the cost of doing business with paid family leave requirements, more health care mandates, heavier environmental regulation won't help.
Then there's this.
"Businesses are seeing that the fourth quarter might have been a last hurrah for consumer spending," said [Michael] Strauss [chief economic for Commonfund]. And he said that's a reason that business spending has been so weak. Spending on equipment and software grew at just a 1.9 percent rate in the quarter.
The report also showed growing inflation pressures in spite of slower growth, a factor that could limit the Federal Reserve's freedom to cut interest rates in an effort to stave off a slowdown or even a full-blown recession.
Here's the AP story.
