WELCOME TO THE RECOVERY – AT 9:15 A.M. ET:  Y'see, the problem is that the calculator the government used last month had bad batteries.  That's what it was.  No problem.  But the guys went to Radio Shack, got new batts, and so there's a new report:

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The government lowered its estimate of how much the economy grew in the first quarter of the year, noting that consumers spent less than it previously thought.

Gross domestic product rose by 2.7 percent in the January-to-March period, the Commerce Department said Friday. That was less than the 3 percent estimate for the quarter that the government released last month. It was also much slower than the 5.6 percent pace in the previous quarter.

The department's report is the third of three estimates it makes for each quarter's GDP, the broadest measure of the nation's economic output. The first quarter's growth rate declined from earlier reports because consumers spent less than previously estimated, while the nation imported more goods from overseas.

COMMENT:  We don't seem to be getting out of the recession.  But the country's ability to handle a new one, or even a flatlining economy, is far less than in 2008, before the federal debt was spun out of control by the commissar of hope 'n change.

The economy will remain the key issue in the election.  If it continues at this pace, Mr. Obama's party may well face an electoral catastrophe.

Add to the problem the fact that many states are near bankruptcy.  It is hard for them to cut spending without alientating powerful constituencies, and raising taxes with major unemployment out there may not be the swiftest idea.

The oil spill won't help.

I get the sense that many Americans have gotten used to a weak economy, the way Europeans often get accustomed to shortages or unsuccessful economic plans.  Daniel Patrick Moynihan called it "defining deviancy down," where a society simply learns to accept a lower standard.  I can't believe that is the America we'll live in, or the America we want, but it seems in certain areas to be happening.  What do you think?

June 25, 2010