U.S. economy grew at 6.4 percent annual rate in first quarter as consumer spending drives robust recovery

[Jimmy Higgins]

It's the best quarterly reading since 2003.

The reopening economy surged in President Joe Biden's first 100 days, with U.S. gross domestic product hitting 6.4 percent, the best quarterly reading since 2003.

U.S gross domestic product, or GDP, a measure of the total amount of goods and services produced, hit 6.4 percent in the first quarter of 2021, according to advance estimates released Thursday from the Commerce Department.

Widespread vaccinations, warmer temperatures and stimulus checks powered the economy to grow by 1.6 percent in the first three months of 2021.

Consumer spending, which accounts for two-thirds of economic growth, increased by 10.7 percent in the first quarter. Spending on services saw a small recovery, expanding by 4.6 percent. In April, consumer confidence hit a 14-month high.

Amazing what can happen when the little people have money to spend.

So new administration, printed tons of money and gave it to the ordinary folk who went to walmarts/amazon and bought tons of chinese made crap. Is that all? or some went to barbers and made a haircut?

...and some decent China made stuff too.

 

[ZiprHead]

So new administration, printed tons of money and gave it to the ordinary folk who went to walmarts/amazon and bought tons of chinese made crap. Is that all? or some went to barbers and made a haircut?

...and some decent China made stuff too.

We're having a little remodeling done. Having a laundry room up on the main floor instead of the basement. $500 to the plumber for parts and labor and $1500 for a stacked US made laundry pair.

 

[barbos]

We're having a little remodeling done. Having a laundry room up on the main floor instead of the basement. $500 to the plumber for parts and labor and $1500 for a stacked US made laundry pair.

Assembled in US. Electronics is most certainly from China, motors and other small parts very likely "made in China".

I remember installing washing machine myself for free, so you could have saved $500 too.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

We're having a little remodeling done. Having a laundry room up on the main floor instead of the basement. $500 to the plumber for parts and labor and $1500 for a stacked US made laundry pair.

Assembled in US. Electronics is most certainly from China, motors and other small parts very likely "made in China".

The former Maytag and Whirlpool have a strong presence in the US. Wouldn't be surprised if some parts were from south of the border.

I remember installing washing machine myself for free, so you could have saved $500 too.

Installing a washer is easy. If it is costing $500 for Ziprhead, then there are some tricky things that need to be done in order to get the thing in and hooked up.

 

[ZiprHead]

The former Maytag and Whirlpool have a strong presence in the US. Wouldn't be surprised if some parts were from south of the border.

I remember installing washing machine myself for free, so you could have saved $500 too.

Installing a washer is easy. If it is costing $500 for Ziprhead, then there are some tricky things that need to be done in order to get the thing in and hooked up.

Running the plumbing up through the floor, connecting to the existing plumbing, running a drain down to the existing pipe and connecting, running a vent pipe down and out the existing vent which is broken and will be replaced also. A lot of work, a lot of parts.

Not to mention I really really hate plumbing. No matter what I do I always end up having to do it three times to get it right.

I will be running the 220 volt electric myself.

 

[TV and credit cards]

I default to thinking I'm the ignorant and dumb one when it comes to the economy. Because I just don't get why "job creators" can't understand that paying people more and paying themselves less does not = socialism and a destroyed economy. The monetary system works best the more accurately money flows. The more money laying dormant in the hands of the few the more money printed by the government for the many under the name of social programs. If they are so worried about their money they should really consider letting more of it get around without the government doing stuff that negatively impacts its value. It's not like your yearly earnings or going to somehow vanish entirely and you'll no longer be rich, you'll just be giving up a fucking zero. So instead of making monthly payments to that stupid republican service subscription you have; try paying the people directly, cause ya know, maybe giving the government fewer reasons to get involved might help.

Not to defend the wealthy but that zero is one hell of a placeholder.

The former Maytag and Whirlpool have a strong presence in the US. Wouldn't be surprised if some parts were from south of the border.

I remember installing washing machine myself for free, so you could have saved $500 too.

Installing a washer is easy. If it is costing $500 for Ziprhead, then there are some tricky things that need to be done in order to get the thing in and hooked up.

Running the plumbing up through the floor, connecting to the existing plumbing, running a drain down to the existing pipe and connecting, running a vent pipe down and out the existing vent which is broken and will be replaced also. A lot of work, a lot of parts.

Not to mention I really really hate plumbing. No matter what I do I always end up having to do it three times to get it right.

I will be running the 220 volt electric myself.

Whirlpool owns a lot. They bought Maytag and KitchenAid and Amana and Jenn-Air amongst others out of country, some time back. A lot of shared parts. I keep a damper on hand for my KitchenAid frig. Noisy little thing. It's a Whirlpool part. After watching the repair guy replace it once under warranty, I started buying them myself. It's made in China. Whirlpool has a large presence in Ohio and Michigan. i have a Whirlpool washer and dryer. They save some settings but not others. Just poor design work. I like to keep Ohioans working but you've got to make a good product first. That's capitalism baby.

 

[Elixir]

China's GDP has been over 6% for years with no signs of inflation.

Yes, because they have been investing in their own infrastructure and growth mechanisms for decades, and has yet to mature as a capitalist venture.
America has been neglecting its infrastructure for decades, and has "matured" into a stagnant oligarchy.

 

[Bomb#20]

So new administration, printed tons of money and gave it to the ordinary folk who went to walmarts/amazon and bought tons of chinese made crap. Is that all? or some went to barbers and made a haircut?

...and some decent China made stuff too.

^^^^ That ^^^^

No wonder this circuit failed. It says "Made in Japan".

What do you mean, Doc? All the best stuff is made in Japan.​

Buying tons of badly made products from third world countries is what teaches them how to make decent products and turns them into first world countries. It's the greatest driver of increased standards of living for the poor and increased equality the world has ever seen.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

Whirlpool owns a lot. They bought Maytag and KitchenAid and Amana and Jenn-Air amongst others out of country, some time back.

They got Maytag (Amana and Jenn-Air were owned by Maytag) for a steal after the idiots in charge fucked up the company and were then going to sell for cheap to a private equity firm for cash. Whirlpool stepped in and got Maytag really for a song, the company had max'd at $85 or $90 a share... and a decade or so later sold for about $18 a share.

I like to keep Ohioans working but you've got to make a good product first. That's capitalism baby.

All Rubbermaid parts.

 

[Toni]

I default to thinking I'm the ignorant and dumb one when it comes to the economy. Because I just don't get why "job creators" can't understand that paying people more and paying themselves less does not = socialism and a destroyed economy. The monetary system works best the more accurately money flows. The more money laying dormant in the hands of the few the more money printed by the government for the many under the name of social programs. If they are so worried about their money they should really consider letting more of it get around without the government doing stuff that negatively impacts its value. It's not like your yearly earnings or going to somehow vanish entirely and you'll no longer be rich, you'll just be giving up a fucking zero. So instead of making monthly payments to that stupid republican service subscription you have; try paying the people directly, cause ya know, maybe giving the government fewer reasons to get involved might help.

Because they don't really care about the economy, only the part that directly benefits themselves. The thing about money is that there's never enough for some people. And those are the people tend to accumulate more and more money. A philosopher might say that they are trying to fill a deep hole where their soul used to be. A psychologist might say that they are sociopaths/narcissists. A politician would say that they are donors. You get the drift....

 

[Loren Pechtel]

We're having a little remodeling done. Having a laundry room up on the main floor instead of the basement. $500 to the plumber for parts and labor and $1500 for a stacked US made laundry pair.

Assembled in US. Electronics is most certainly from China, motors and other small parts very likely "made in China".

I remember installing washing machine myself for free, so you could have saved $500 too.

He's not talking about installing a washing machine. As you say, easy enough to do it yourself.

He's talking about the cost of routing pipes to the new location.

 

[Bomb#20]

What percentage of the money going into the stock market is in IPOs?

Beats me. Why do you think it makes a difference? ... And if you're talking about the secondary market, i.e., buying stock from an existing shareholder instead of from the company, the money you put into the stock market is balanced by the money she takes out, for no net change in the amount of money in the stock market. So that can hardly count as money "taken out of the economy".

Very misleading. Focus on the incorrect phrase I've colored red. If buyers force stock prices up an average of 10%, then the total market cap ("money in the stock market") increases from $40 trillion to $44 trillion. Perhaps no new banknotes were printed, nor did banks' balance sheets necessarily change, but asset values have increased, and so has the spending power of the asset owners.

Hmm. If because I have to compete with other buyers I pay $101 for a stock that was being sold for $100, I've put $101 into the stock market and the previous owner has taken out $101. It seems a stretch, but if we assume my purchase has "forced stock prices up", so the other million shares that weren't sold are now worth $101 each, then I guess you could argue my $101 purchase has increased total market cap by a million dollars. And if you want to label it "money in the stock market" (I'd call it stock in the stock market, but okay, have it your way) then I guess we could say the phrase you've colored red is incorrect. Fine, my bad. $101 in, $101 out, $1000000 in stock appreciation. Well, if we're labeling that extra $1000000 in stock valuation "money", then that means my $101 purchase has increased the money supply by $1000000. But recall what we're arguing about. SimpleDon wrote:

"The money is then taken out of the economy and put into the stock markets where doesn't impact the economy."​

So which is the money that was supposedly taken out of the economy? The $101 that was taken out by me and simultaneously put back in by the seller? Or the $1000000 that was newly created from scratch by altering perceptions of the investing public? 'Cause I'm not seeing any money looking like it's gone missing from the economy.

In an extreme case, the seller of high-priced stock will put the money back into a different high-priced stock; that seller buys a high-priced painting; its seller buys yet another stock; and the money can spin in circles indefinitely without entering the real economy.

And you can lose money on every transaction and make it up on volume. If you can't point at any one transaction that "takes money out of the economy" then pointing at an extended series doesn't help your case.

Or one of the sellers may build an expensive home or order a new yacht. This puts the "money" back into the real economy, but it's spent on luxuries for the rich, rather than necessities for the less fortunate.

Well, if your and SD's actual objection is that more money for your outgroup doesn't help your ingroup, he and you could have said that in the first place without the window dressing about not helping "the economy".

The simple fact is that increasing wealth inequality is a big problem economically and socially; and rising asset prices directly increase that inequality.

The same decisions that make the prices of Bezos' and the Waltons' assets rise are pulling poor Chinese out of poverty. You appear resistant to including them in your calculation of the direction inequality is going. I take it poor Chinese don't count as ingroup?

 

[barbos]

We're having a little remodeling done. Having a laundry room up on the main floor instead of the basement. $500 to the plumber for parts and labor and $1500 for a stacked US made laundry pair.

Assembled in US. Electronics is most certainly from China, motors and other small parts very likely "made in China".

I remember installing washing machine myself for free, so you could have saved $500 too.

He's not talking about installing a washing machine. As you say, easy enough to do it yourself.

He's talking about the cost of routing pipes to the new location.

More like flexible hoses.

 

[RVonse]

It's the best quarterly reading since 2003.

The reopening economy surged in President Joe Biden's first 100 days, with U.S. gross domestic product hitting 6.4 percent, the best quarterly reading since 2003.

U.S gross domestic product, or GDP, a measure of the total amount of goods and services produced, hit 6.4 percent in the first quarter of 2021, according to advance estimates released Thursday from the Commerce Department.

Widespread vaccinations, warmer temperatures and stimulus checks powered the economy to grow by 1.6 percent in the first three months of 2021.

Consumer spending, which accounts for two-thirds of economic growth, increased by 10.7 percent in the first quarter. Spending on services saw a small recovery, expanding by 4.6 percent. In April, consumer confidence hit a 14-month high.

Amazing what can happen when the little people have money to spend.

If the government borrows money to give away to spend on goods coming from China, how does that help the US economy? How did that help Americans become more productive? And even if it will cause Americans to prosper (which it wont), how long will this prosperity last?

I have a real problem with just how GNP is advertised. And a bigger problem with telling the world Biden is making a big contrbution based on a bad metric.

 

[RVonse]

I default to thinking I'm the ignorant and dumb one when it comes to the economy. Because I just don't get why "job creators" can't understand that paying people more and paying themselves less does not = socialism and a destroyed economy. The monetary system works best the more accurately money flows. The more money laying dormant in the hands of the few the more money printed by the government for the many under the name of social programs. If they are so worried about their money they should really consider letting more of it get around without the government doing stuff that negatively impacts its value. It's not like your yearly earnings or going to somehow vanish entirely and you'll no longer be rich, you'll just be giving up a fucking zero. So instead of making monthly payments to that stupid republican service subscription you have; try paying the people directly, cause ya know, maybe giving the government fewer reasons to get involved might help.

You're not ignorant and dumb at all. Just being mis-led like the OP is as to where the consumption is coming from.

The best kind of real consumption was during the early Ford years when those workers were paid more by management so they could afford to buy Fords.

Unlike today, that was real GNP. People who bought and owned Fords in exchange for labor and knowlege inputs. No borrowing or fakery involved. Just an honest trade of a car for labor. It was real prosperity that came about not based on bull shit, financial engineering, or fake politicians boasting.

 

[none]

I default to thinking I'm the ignorant and dumb one when it comes to the economy. Because I just don't get why "job creators" can't understand that paying people more and paying themselves less does not = socialism and a destroyed economy. The monetary system works best the more accurately money flows. The more money laying dormant in the hands of the few the more money printed by the government for the many under the name of social programs. If they are so worried about their money they should really consider letting more of it get around without the government doing stuff that negatively impacts its value. It's not like your yearly earnings or going to somehow vanish entirely and you'll no longer be rich, you'll just be giving up a fucking zero. So instead of making monthly payments to that stupid republican service subscription you have; try paying the people directly, cause ya know, maybe giving the government fewer reasons to get involved might help.

You're not ignorant and dumb at all. Just being mis-led like the OP is as to where the consumption is coming from.

The best kind of real consumption was during the early Ford years when those workers were paid more by management so they could afford to buy Fords.

Unlike today, that was real GNP. People who bought and owned Fords in exchange for labor and knowlege inputs. No borrowing or fakery involved. Just an honest trade of a car for labor. It was real prosperity that came about not based on bull shit, financial engineering, or fake politicians boasting.

no true scotsman?

 

[RVonse]

It's the best quarterly reading since 2003.

The reopening economy surged in President Joe Biden's first 100 days, with U.S. gross domestic product hitting 6.4 percent, the best quarterly reading since 2003.

U.S gross domestic product, or GDP, a measure of the total amount of goods and services produced, hit 6.4 percent in the first quarter of 2021, according to advance estimates released Thursday from the Commerce Department.

Widespread vaccinations, warmer temperatures and stimulus checks powered the economy to grow by 1.6 percent in the first three months of 2021.

Consumer spending, which accounts for two-thirds of economic growth, increased by 10.7 percent in the first quarter. Spending on services saw a small recovery, expanding by 4.6 percent. In April, consumer confidence hit a 14-month high.

Amazing what can happen when the little people have money to spend.

So new administration, printed tons of money and gave it to the ordinary folk who went to walmarts/amazon and bought tons of chinese made crap. Is that all? or some went to barbers and made a haircut?

Im guessing it was way more of the former than the later.

 

[RVonse]

I default to thinking I'm the ignorant and dumb one when it comes to the economy. Because I just don't get why "job creators" can't understand that paying people more and paying themselves less does not = socialism and a destroyed economy. The monetary system works best the more accurately money flows. The more money laying dormant in the hands of the few the more money printed by the government for the many under the name of social programs. If they are so worried about their money they should really consider letting more of it get around without the government doing stuff that negatively impacts its value. It's not like your yearly earnings or going to somehow vanish entirely and you'll no longer be rich, you'll just be giving up a fucking zero. So instead of making monthly payments to that stupid republican service subscription you have; try paying the people directly, cause ya know, maybe giving the government fewer reasons to get involved might help.

You're not ignorant and dumb at all. Just being mis-led like the OP is as to where the consumption is coming from.

The best kind of real consumption was during the early Ford years when those workers were paid more by management so they could afford to buy Fords.

Unlike today, that was real GNP. People who bought and owned Fords in exchange for labor and knowlege inputs. No borrowing or fakery involved. Just an honest trade of a car for labor. It was real prosperity that came about not based on bull shit, financial engineering, or fake politicians boasting.

no true scotsman?

More like " no true data". If the data is shit so is the boasting of the shit data

 

[none]

no true scotsman?

More like " no true data". If the data is shit so is the boasting of the shit data

what data?

 

[RVonse]

no true scotsman?

More like " no true data". If the data is shit so is the boasting of the shit data

what data?

GDP