Interesting.

That's the start date of the pea-eating orgy agreed to during last year's fully-fake debt ceiling crisis. The government's getting the @#$% slashed out of it.

Great stuff, really great stuff.

Conveniently after the election.

One item I am surprised they didn't mention was the drop in oil and gas production due to the very mild winter and the need for far less heating oil and natural gas. Yes, it meant that more money was available for spending elsewhere, which is a positive, but it's also a drag on GDP because not all of it would have been spent elsewhere (some would have gone to savings, debt reduction, etc.).

And you are correct. Consumer spending is up by quite a lot less than the amount of the decrease in oil and gas.

In reading a report on railroad tonnage I saw a justification about decrease in tonnage saying that a portion was due to a large decrease in coal, and that the decrease in coal was due to a mild winter. I wonder about the accuracy of that. How much coal is used for heating in this country today? I would guess just about zero. Coal is used for generating electricity. How much is electricity used for heating? well, certainly some, but enough to justify that much of a drop in coal? Maybe, but I have my doubts.

(2) this story...

so libertarians/conservatives...name ONE country that prospered from austerity. PLEASE!

if you keep cutting a tree, it will never have the chance to grow.

40 years of failure is not enough to convice the Republican mindet... it will all have to come to a complete collapse before they let go. Even then.. they will refuse to see the facts.

Success has many fathers, but failure is an orphan.

It's worked quite well for them. They pay no taxes while amassing vast fortunes.

The US has become a third-world country in many important ways. It is viewed as merely a country from which to extract resources to feed multinational corporations and foreign countries who then sell products back to us -- the very definition of third-world. Example: Washington State is building ports to ship millions of tons of coal to China every year.

Proof positive.. (to them) that we can survive as a country by doing each others laundry and mowing lawns.

We can wash their cars, baby-sit their kids, serve them meals... all for less than minimum wage.

Just try and complain.. they will smash your cell phone camera and pepper spray you while you stand in their "Free-Speech" zone.

The federal government is spending around 40% more than it brings in from taxation. Either spending is cut by half or tax revenues are increased to cover the spending. There are no other options and anyone that try's to blow smoke up your ass and tells differently must be running for political office.....

EITHER option is going to kill the economy. The money is going to be removed from GDP one way or another, we can not continue to BORROW it in an effort to SOLVE AN OVER LEVERAGED ECONOMY.

Sure "tax the rich" sounds like a plan but it ain't going to cut it. I am amazed that the idiots on the right think LOWERING taxes is possible.

The problem is the ass-hats of BOTH political parties are trying to solve a simple math problem politically. Continued borrowing only makes the inevitable worse, I think we need to "eat our peas" right now instead of pushing the debt we are accumulating in a misguided effort to "pretend" we are in recovery off on future generations.

military might in history? Or how about taxing corporations especially for taking jobs out of the country? Or how about we stop subsidizing mega billionare oil companies? And then how about rebuilding this country physically, like it's bridges for starters?

Just a few thoughts about how it IS possible to actually do smart things.

Sure, the military is bloated, there are tax loopholes for corporations that have bought politicians......

My point is that as of right now GDP is 12% overstated (probably 25% overstated when considering the multiplier effect of the BORROWED MONEY).

WHEN (not if) this borrowing is stopped we will have an immediate contraction in our economy. This can not be avoided.

Raising taxes removes this money from private GDP. Cutting government spending in ANY AREA of government will lower the government component.

.... are on the horizon, they HAVE to be.

As I've been bleating here for 5 years, everyone that thinks the worst is over or that there will soon be a "recover" is sadly mistaken.

While the economy languishes it has not been for the want of trying with more gov't spending. It's not working and it's not going to work. And eventually we will have "austerity", not by choice and not because it is some great policy, it will be forced on the gov't and us by simple math.

That big fat hole they keep digging us all into.

An analysis of the first three months of this year showed a lowering of consumer distress as new hires increased across the nation and the housing market picked up.

You can read more updates here: Consumers face increasingly less financial distress

Because of increased hiring and a decrease in mortgage foreclosures, the economic recovery seems to be picking up steam. The brand new Consumer Distress Index, which analyzed information from the year's first quarter, reaffirms those findings. Well, I guess it's about time for the United States to wake up from slumber due to economic crisis. It's about time for us to seriously deal with the economic crisis that we have. I just hope that this year would be a better year for us.

the economy grew at a 3.5 percent annual rate.'

SO we're already in positive territory BUT FOR governmental-imposed or required 'austerity.' (This is Federal AND state and local, of course.)