Economy in Worst Fall Since '82

Output Sank 6.2% Last Quarter; Plunging Trade, Investment Signal Trouble Ahead

The U.S. economy deteriorated far more than previously thought in the fourth quarter, according to new revisions of government data, casting fresh doubt about the chances of a recovery this year.

With falloffs in consumer spending and exports, gross domestic product declined at a 6.2% annual rate in the fourth quarter of 2008, according to a Commerce Department report Friday. The agency's first estimate for GDP, reported in January, was for a 3.8% ... Full Story »

Posted by Fabrice Florin

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Review

Michael Bugeja
3.8
by Michael Bugeja - Feb. 28, 2009

This is a standard economic report developed to an art by the Wall Street Journal for the information that it conveys, rather than for the insight. In other words, the message is the recession will linger despite what Washington and the Federal Reserve predict.

I have been predicting this since the Fall on News Trust when Bernanke lowered interest rates to zero in an inane attempt to stimulate a manipulated market, ruining the fundamental relationship between savings and loans and setting up the world economy for a global depression.

Some economists have a much dimmer view, arguing the best the stimulus can do is prevent a recession from turning into depression.

Not likely.

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Michael's Rating

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3.8

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from 14 answers
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3.6
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4.0
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3.0
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5.0
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4.0
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