US advance Q1 GDP up 0.5% vs. 0.7% expected

(Hat tip: KimR) - U.S. economic growth braked sharply to its slowest pace in two years as consumer spending softened and a strong dollar continued to undercut exports, but a pick-up in activity is anticipated given a buoyant labor market. Gross domestic product increased at a 0.5 percent annual rate, the slowest since the first quarter of 2014... Read more at CNBC Read More......

Study: GDP Would Be 25% Bigger If Government Regulations Had Been Capped In 1980

(Hat tip: KimR) - Red Tape: Economists scratch their heads when asked to explain the economy’s tepid growth over the past several years. A new study gives a possible answer: the growing, cumulative burden of federal regulations. Read more at Investor's Business Daily Read More......

Auditor: Government Will Owe More Money Than Entire Economy Produces

(Hat tip: KimR) - An auditor for the Government Accountability Office told lawmakers  Wednesday that in the next few years the federal government will owe more than our entire economy produces. Read more at the Washington Free Beacon Read More......

Obamanomics under fire from GOP as economy slows to 0.1 percent growth rate

WASHINGTON – The U.S. economy slowed to an anemic pace in the first quarter of the year, according to new Commerce Department estimates, renewing Republican claims that Obama administration policies are slamming the brakes on the recovery. ✧ The department estimated that growth slowed to a barely discernible 0.1 percent annual rate between January and March. That was the weakest pace since the end of 2012 and was down from a 2.6 percent rate in the previous quarter.

Read more at Fox News Read More......

IBD: President Obama's Growth Gap Hits $1.31 Trillion

Stagnation: With fourth-quarter GDP growth downgraded in the latest government report, President Obama's anemic economy stretches on. If this had been only an average recovery, we'd be $1.31 trillion richer. ✧ Remember all that talk at the beginning of last year about how prosperity was — finally — just around the corner? In February 2013, for example, Reuters reported "signs are emerging that a more robust recovery is around the bend." ✧ The same month, Bloomberg told its readers that "most Fed policymakers expect growth of 2.3% to 3%." ✧ At the start of last year, the Obama administration projected growth in 2013 would be 2.3%. The Blue Chip consensus forecast was slightly higher. ✧ None of those projections was stellar. But with the Bureau of Economic Analysis' sharp downward revision of Q4 growth — from 3.2% to 2.4% — each turned out to be overly optimistic. Actual gross domestic product growth for 2013 came in at a pathetic 1.9%.

Read more at Investors Business Daily Read More......