Editorial Board, Orange County Register:
The nation’s real gross domestic product in the first quarter of this year grew by a disappointing 0.2 percent annual rate, the Bureau of Economic Analysis reported Wednesday.
Jason Furman, chairman of the White House Council of Economic Advisers, attributed the economy’s underwhelming performance to “notably harsh winter weather” during the first three months of 2015.
Of course, the nation has experienced harsh winter weather in years past – including, notably, 1987 and 1969, when the Northeast endured three separate snowstorms.
But unlike the first quarter of this year, when the U.S. economy barely grew, the economy in the first quarter of 1987 expanded by 2.8 percent and by a robust 6.4 percent in 1969.
Some have gone so far as to wonder whether the negligible uptick in GDP during the first three months of 2015 “suggests a longstanding problem of under-reporting Q1 expansion,” as CNBC reported.
More.
Comment Policy: The Editors reserve the right to delete any comments which in their sole discretion are deemed false or misleading, profane, pornographic, defamatory, harassment, name calling, libelous, threatening, or otherwise inappropriate. Additionally, the Editors reserve the right to ban any registered poster who, in their sole discretion, violates the terms of use. Do not post any information about yourself reasonably construed as private or confidential. Conservatives4Palin and its contributors are not liable if users allow others to contact them offsite.