Economic growth slowed to a crawl in the third quarter, advancing at a pace of just 1.6 percent, the worst in more than three years.
The latest snapshot of the economy, released by the Commerce Department on Friday, showed that the slumping housing market figured prominently in the economy’s dramatic loss of momentum. Investment in homebuilding was cut by the biggest amount since early 1991.
The reading on gross domestic product was weaker than the 2.1 percent pace many economists were forecasting.
“The housing bubble burst and that really knocked down growth,” said Joel Naroff, president of Naroff Economic Advisors. . . .
Economic matters are expected to influence voters’ choices when they go to the polls. President Bush’s approval rating on the economy is at 40 percent, among all adults surveyed in an AP-Ipsos poll. That remains near his lowest ratings. Those surveyed trusted Democrats more than Republicans to handle the economy.
Here’s another way to look at this: Given that investment in housing has fallen drastically, isn’t it a testament to our economy’s strength that the GDP still grew? Grew at a pace that, according to the article, was just half a percentage point off what some economists expected? The sharp drop-off in the housing market was a pretty heavy hit...and yet GDP growth only went down half a percentage point.
That’s significant. Investment in housing was going to drop off eventually. That’s just how the market works. There are only so many people in this country, and we only need so many houses. We couldn’t continue to build at the rate we were building forever. So the housing boom slowed down very quickly. Big deal. Our economy still grew. That’s the point.
But none of this matters to the media/left. They’re always looking to cast everything in doom and gloom. Housing market slowing down? Well then obviously our economy is tanking and the end times are upon us.
It’s sickening. More than that, it’s depressing. We may well be in one of the strongest economic growth periods of this nation’s history, but thanks to the agenda-driven media most Americans may never realize it.