The festival of Philadelphia celebrated the wonderful present and the even more fantastic future and the festivities went on well into the night. Then came morning and a bucket of cold water from the Commerce Department.
Seems that the GDP did not grow as much in the first quarter as initially reported, which was an already anemic 1.1 percent. This was revised down to 0.8 percent. Which is to say, barely treading water.
Furthermore … the first figures for the 2nd quarter came in at 1.2 percent. Economists had been expecting growth of 2.6 percent. These days, the most frequently used item in the economist’s toolkit appears to be the word “unexpectedly.”
Economic growth does not fix all things or heal all wounds. But it does make life more bearable and the future appear more promising. These figures would normally augur trouble for the incumbent party. Always better to run on a record of peace and prosperity. When you can’t even hit a target of 2.6 percent GDP growth, you will have a hard time selling voters on the notion that they live in times of plenty.
Also, it should be noted that the “peace” part of the old formulation is also problematic. We have troops in Iraq, close to the action. And last week in Afghanistan, five American servicemen were wounded.
In an ordinary election, it would be tough sledding for the party in power.
Just about any other Republican could have ridden those “unexpected” numbers to glory. But this time, voters might take no growth if that is the price of no Trump.
