Recession eases; GDP dip smaller than expected

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WASHINGTON – The economy sank at a pace of just 1 percent in the second quarter of the year ... It was a better-than-expected showing that provided the strongest signal yet that the longest recession since World War II is finally winding down.

The dip in gross domestic product for the April-to-June period, reported by the Commerce Department on Friday, comes after the economy was in a free fall, tumbling at an annual rate of 6.4 percent in the first three months of this year. That was the sharpest downhill slide in nearly three decades.

The economy has now contracted for a record four straight quarters for the first time on records dating to 1947.

...

Economists were predicting a slightly bigger 1.5 percent annualized contraction in second-quarter GDP.

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The Commerce Department also reported Friday that the recession inflicted even more damage on the economy last year than the government had previously thought. In revisions that date back to the Great Depression, it now estimates that the economy grew just 0.4 percent in 2008. That's much weaker than the 1.1 percent growth the government had earlier calculated.

Also Friday, the government reported that employment compensation for U.S. workers has grown over the past 12 months by the lowest amount on record.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090731/ap_on_bi_ge/us_economy

[alienlovechild 75]

The economy has now contracted for a record four straight quarters for the first time on records dating to 1947.

...

Economists were predicting a slightly bigger 1.5 percent annualized contraction in second-quarter GDP.

...

Such wonderful news that the economy isn't shrinking as fast as predicted is like crowing that you you didn't lose as much money in Vegas as predicted. You still lost and continue to lose.

The Commerce Department also reported Friday that the recession inflicted even more damage on the economy last year than the government had previously thought. In revisions that date back to the Great Depression, it now estimates that the economy grew just 0.4 percent in 2008. That's much weaker than the 1.1 percent growth the government had earlier calculated.

.4% for 2008 and negative growth (so far) for 2009. Even 1% growth for 2010 and Obama will be hailed as the greatest president ever.