2nd quarter 2012 US GDP slashed to 1.3%, 'ugly' third revision

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It would have been worse except federal, state, and local government spending experienced minimal decreases. The non-productive class suffered less than the productive class.

9/27/12, "Q2 GDP SLASHED TO 1.3%,
" Business Insider, Sam Ro

"The third reading on Q2 GDP just came out and the report was ugly.

The headline growth number was revised down to 1.3 percent on an annualized basis.
Economists expected the number to be unchanged at 1.7 percent.

"As we recently noted, you'll need to watch the rear-view mirror to see the recession come into focus," wrote ECRI's Lakshman Achuthan in an email to Business Insider.

"The "third" estimate of the second-quarter percent change in real GDP is 0.4 percentage point, or $16.0 billion, less than the "second" estimate issued last month, primarily reflecting downward revisions to private inventory investment, to personal consumption expenditures, and to exports," wrote the Bureau of Economic Analysis.

The personal consumption component was revised down to 1.5 percent.  Economists were expecting it to be unchanged at 1.7 percent.

From the Bureau of Economic Analysis:

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Real gross domestic product -- the output of goods and services produced by labor and property located in the United States -- increased at an annual rate of 1.3 percent in the second quarter of 2012 (that is, from the first quarter to the second quarter), according to the "third" estimate released by the Bureau of Economic Analysis.  In the first quarter, real GDP increased 2.0 percent.

The GDP estimate released today is based on more complete source data than were available for the "second" estimate issued last month....

The deceleration in real GDP in the second quarter primarily reflected decelerations in PCE, in nonresidential fixed investment, and in residential fixed investment that were partly offset by smaller decreases in federal government spending and in state and local government spending and an acceleration in exports."...

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9/27/12, "Final Q2 GDP Disaster: 1.25% Growth Comes Below Lowest Estimate," Zero Hedge

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