Q2 2020 GDP growth: -32.9%.... Yes, you've read it right.

The US economy contracted at a 32.9% annual rate from April through June, its worst drop on record, the Bureau of Economic Analysis said Thursday.

Business ground to a halt during the pandemic lockdown in the spring of this year, and America plunged into its first recession in 11 years, putting an end to the longest economic expansion in US history and wiping out five years of economic gains in just a few months.

A recession is commonly defined as two consecutive quarters of declining gross domestic product — the broadest measure of the economy. Between January and March, GDP declined by an annualized rate of 5%.

https://www.cnn.com/2020/07/30/economy/us-economy-2020-second-quarter/index.html
_____________________________________

This is a disaster, especially when compared to:

- Canada (-8.2%)
- Germany (-10.1%)
- UK (-15%)
- France (-5.3%)
- Spain (-5.2%)

Trump continues his scorched earth policy.

Will the country be able to survive the worst President in history?

 

Yes shut the country down longer due to Wuhan Flu..........................No thanks.

 

Well it does fit in quite nicely with his often stated claim - 'No one, in the history of the country, has ever accomplished what I have!' Or the other gem, 'No one believed it was possible'.

 

Isn't it odd that CNN is one of the main drivers for screaming that the economy stay closed? Isn't the result then exactly what they wanted to see happen?

 

All pandemics cost money. You don't save lives AND keep your economy at 100%. What you are missing is the fact that other countries managed to do less economic harm and combat corona. And of course the last thing to note is that the US economy has more to lose than every other nation on the planet. So you're attack on CNN is nothing more than a distraction of the hard truth. YOUR president is incompetent on this issue. That's what these results show. And it's not surprising. No one who voted against him, at least, is surprised.

 

He also seems to be doubling down on his incompetence

 

This should come as a surprise to absolutely no one.

 

Golly. Since CNN are the ones cranking about it, pointing out that it is their preaching of their demands creating the outcome they now cry about isn't a distraction at all. It is self fulfilling outcomes. Spread the fear, demand that no one get out and work (except them, cause they still need a paycheck) and then cry that everyone else lost their jobs because of the fear they themselves created. It's criminal.

 

Is the GDP dropping by this much news or not? And if it dropped like this while Obama was in office, would you expect them to point it out or not?

Sorry, but like I said, pandemics cost money. That money comes from the economy. If we had paid up front to prepare, we would have saved some of the pain now. But we didn't. So here we are. Don't blame news organizations for reporting the news. Blame the leadership, mostly Trump, for not following his predecessors, both Obama and Bush, on preparing for a pandemic.

 

The economy is directly linked to covid-19.

If you want a better economy, then you need to crush covid-19.

 

The size of the drop is record breaking. Nearly three times the previous record.

 

Trump himself demanded that the economy shut down.

 

Countries that took more aggressive approaches have had less contraction. Isn't it odd that Trump supporters aren't willing to comprehend that the economic impact goes far, far beyond the closings?

 

There is no evidence that "their demands" created this. We're in this position because we weren't aggressive enough, not because we were too aggressive.

 

So, miss the point on purpose. It doesn't matter. CNN shill for the lockdown, and then scream about the result. Like, yes, we expected it, but oooohhh...isn't it scary. That is the model they use. Perhaps if the president took media off of the "essential" list and shut them down a while..... Now there's an idea.

 

Wait just a minute there Slick, the Right have been saying no one watches CNN, so how can they have so much influence if no one watches them??????

 

The lockdown was necessary, and a more aggressive lockdown, widespread mask use, social distancing, aggressive testing etc. would have helped minimize the economic impact.

 

CNN is the shill for reality. We didn't have the means to save lives without a lock down, so CNN rightly pointed out the only viable option to us based on what EXPERTS, that's not you, me, or Trump, were saying was necessary. Now they are pointing out the cost of not being prepared. And you don't want to hear that because you want Trump re-elected at any cost, including Herman Cain's life apparently. And you somehow think you are right...amazing.

 

And Trump defenders have the audacity to claim that it is the left who wants to silence free speech.

****ing useless.

 

Dude CNN doesn't measure the GDP - it's the job of The Treasury Dept. Trump's Treasury Dept. If you don't like
the numbers talk to them.

But this ...

Remember when Republicans said that Obama's failure to reach 3.0% GDP was proof positive that he was a bad President?
Guess what? Obama's GDP average will end up being better than Trump's. So will Carter's. So will Bush II numbers. There
is a very good chance that Trump's GDP average will be a negative number - the worst of any modern President.

 

Btw, for years I've had Republicans on this forum tell me that the President gets the blame/credit for the GDP. Something tells me that tune is changing today.

 

Yep. Neither Obama NOR TRUMP surpassed 3.0% annual GDP (both surpassed 3.0% quarterly, but Obama's highest quarter was higher than Trump's highest quarter). I think Obama's average was 1.9%, which we were told was appalling.

But there's absolutely no chance now of Trump's average being a positive number. It would be impossible given this most recent quarter.

I typically don't give Presidents credit or blame when it comes to the GDP. They can do some things to influence it, but it is mostly the result of market forces. However, in this case we've seen other countries with less economic contraction, so there is no denying the role of the government in this one.

 

The numbers don't back up being closed down anymore.

 

Nearly 1500 Americans died yesterday from Covid-19

 

And again... this is a surprise?