Promoted from diaries. – Moe Lane

GDP numbers are out, and they couldn’t be much worse. To sum it up, that supposedly sharp pace in 4Q10 was overstated by 35%, 1Q11’s figure was overstated by a mere 475% (!), and the already low expectations for 2Q11 were 38% higher than reality.

The U.S. economy grew less than expected in the second quarter as consumer spending barely rose, and growth braked sharply in the prior quarter, a government report showed on Friday.

Growth in gross domestic product—a measure of all goods and services produced within U.S. borders—rose at a 1.3 percent annual rate, the Commerce Department said.

First-quarter output was sharply revised down to a 0.4 percent pace from 1.9 percent.

Economists had expected the economy to expand at a 1.8 percent rate in the second quarter.

In addition, fourth-quarter growth was revised down to a 2.3 percent pace from 3.1 percent, indicating that the economy had already started slowing before the high gasoline prices and supply chain disruptions from Japan hit.

That sucking sound you hear on Wall Street today will have little to do with Boehner and much to do with Obama’s failed economic “plan”.

But don’t expect it to be reported that way.