Always, Always Income

This is a syndicated repost courtesy of Alhambra Investments. To view original, click here. Reposted with permission.
Just before Christmas 2014, the Bureau of Economic Analysis upgraded Q3 2014 Real GDP to +5.0%. That represented a huge acceleration from earlier that year when during the depths of its Polar Vortex infused winter Q1 2014 GDP had contracted sharply (according to contemporary estimates). One need not be a betting man to hazard a correct guess as to which quarter gained all the attention and focus.
The statement from the White House three years ago was rather typical:
Today’s upward revision indicates that the economy grew in the third quarter at the fastest pace in over a decade. The strong GDP growth is consistent with a broad range of other indicators showing improvement in the labor market, increasing domestic energy security, and continued low health cost growth. The steps that we took early on to rescue our economy and rebuild it on a new foundation helped make 2014 already the strongest year for job growth since the 1990s.
This was a sentiment widely shared, an assurance, almost, that the worst was finally over and the recovery about to commence – if, indeed, it hadn’t already during that 5% whirlwind of activity.

This post was published at Wall Street Examiner by Jeffrey P. Snider ‘ December 26, 2017.