by Mark Silva
The White House -- happy to have averted a recession for now, in either word or definition - acknowledged today that the 0.6 percent growth in the nation's Gross Domestic Product during the first quarter is "nothing to crow about.''
"The first quarter GDP remained slow, but growing,'' Dana Perino, the White House press secretary, said this morning. "This is nothing to crow about. It is very slow growth, but it is growth nonetheless... These numbers are nothing to crow about.... 0.6 percent is not robust growth, by any stretch of the imagination.''
The White House also maintains that President Bush acted on the problem early, seeking measures to counter a home mortgage foreclosure and pushing an Economic Stimulus Act that started delivering more than $100 billion in tax rebates this week.
And White House spokeswoman Perino insisted today that as hard as the press attempts to prod Bush into acknowledging that a recession already is under way - "I feel prodded,'' she said today -- he will continue to deal with the facts as they unfold.
Rising gas prices are among the pressures behind a slowdown in consumer spending during the first quarter - it rose by just 1 percent. Bush had said this week that he would remain open-minded about proposals for a moratorium on the federal gas tax this summer. But the move for that in Congress includes a proposed "windfall profits tax'' on the oil companies --- and the White House is not open to that idea.
"If you are providing disincentives to companies to go out and find more oil... you are shooting yourself in the foot,'' Perino said. ''A tax on specific companies like that would end up dis-incentivizing those companies... One of the things we have to do is allow companies to invest in America and to try to find oil here.''
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Comments
Oh, I thought he said, his Presidency was nothing to crow about!!! That guy, sure has a way with words!!
SUPPORT OUR TROOPS, BRING THEM HOME, ALIVE. NOW.
Posted by: Don Fitzgerald, Chicago | April 30, 2008 10:19 AM
The blame for oil prices is not the falling dollar....fiqure %s and you'll see that isn't it. The problem isn't refineries...they are oporating at 85% capacity where they want them to be...the problem, just like with the housing crisis is speculation. Will we see a bubble?
Posted by: bill r. | April 30, 2008 10:26 AM
WHEW!!! That 0.6% sure makes me feel better about the economy now. Of COURSE we're not in a recession -- there was an uptick. Time to go out and buy a couple new cars, a computer or six, get that big vacation booked, hire some people to do stuff, go get those big-screen TV's installed....
Thank GOD the economy's back in growth mode!
Posted by: Op109 | April 30, 2008 11:31 AM
The GDP index is an outdated indicator of national wealth and progress. The GDP includes the defense production of boots, tents, bullets, ships, planes, tanks, and bombs. No wonder BushCo wants war in his equation for eight years. The GDP doesn't measure income distribution which may be the reason BushCo doesn't see things as seriously as the average American does right now. Bush bases "RECESSION' on outdated indicators. The HDI or Human Development Index, would be a better indicator. It includes, among other things, literacy, income distribution, life expectancy and purchasing power parity. Our lower dollar would enter into the HDI. The USA ranks much lower internationally on the HDI index than on the GDP. The GDP may help presidents and possibly business--but not real humans or citizens living a real life in real time.
Why do we keep sending billions to Iraq when they have a surplus from oil production? Why do we pay almost 4 dollars a gallon when IRAQIS PAY 5 CENTS A GALLON DUE TO SUBSIDIES COMMANDEERED BY BUSHCO FROM AMERICAN TAXPAYERS?
Posted by: Vivian | April 30, 2008 1:00 PM
"DISINFORMATION SPEAKS"
IT'S NOT "BUSH PAID PROPAGANDA"
IT'S NOT "BUSH PAID" SUPPLY AND DEMAND FOR HALLIBURTON.
IT'S NOT EVEN CHENEY PAID FERC.
IT'S "EURO DAY" IN THE MIDDLE EAST.
IT'S 3.7 TRILLION DOLLARS AND NO "OIL RECONCILIATION"
IT'S 90 BILLION DOLLAR PROFIT DAY AND NO "OIL RECONCILIATION"
IT'S 500 MILLION HERE!
IT'S 26 MILLION THERE!
IT'S "EURO DAY" IN THE MIDDLE EAST!
IT'S INACTIONABLE INTELLIGENCE DAY!
IT'S THE DOLLAR HAS BEEN TOTALLY REMOVED FROM "IRAN" DAY!
AND NO "OIL RECONCILIATION" DAY IN IRAQ!
IMPEACHMENT IS THE "NUCLEAR OPTION" DAY IN AMERICA!
Posted by: Roger Morris | April 30, 2008 1:52 PM