U.S. GDP grows 2% in 3rd quarter--WOW!

From the L.A. Times:

Reporting from Washington —

The U.S. economy continued to plod along at a sluggish pace in the third quarter, not enough to generate momentum or bring down the nation's high jobless rate.

The nation's gross domestic product, or the value of all goods and services produced inside U.S. borders, grew at an annualized rate of 2% in the July-to-September quarter, the Commerce Department said Friday.

That was a tad higher than the 1.7% GDP growth in the second quarter, but overall still paints a picture of a lackluster economy that expanded at a 3.25% annual rate in the second half of last year coming out of the recession, only to see a slowing since spring...

Uncertainties about the expiring Bush administration's tax cuts loom as a potential negative, but analysts say even that could provide a lift in the next two months as people move some of their planned spending for 2011 to this year because of the risks of higher taxes.

Wowza! The stimulus, the threat of higher taxes, and more regulation for everything that moves is really working!

Not.

The above is only one reason why Democrats are going to have their butts handed to them this coming Tuesday. Hang in there, America.

A 14 Trillion dollar economy

I find that many people really do underestimate how large the U.S. economy is compared to other countries. The chart below, provided by Mark Perry at Carpe Diem, replaces the names of states with the name of a country that has a similiar GDP.

You can look up the data for U.S. states here
and for foriegn countries here.

GDP grew 3.3% in the second quarter

I guess the country isn’t going into the toilet as some politicians want to make us believe. The stories of our demise are greatly exaggerated! I’m sure that some will not be convinced that while the economy is not humming along, it’s not as desperate as some keynote speakers at the DNC continuously harped.