Is the data telling us big, fat GDP lies?

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So this is the nastiest economic downturn since the Great Depression? How can it be then that the unemployment rate fell in April and our GDP growth was positive during the first quarter of this year? Has the Government really pulled off the great escape, has it gotten lucky, or is this just the calm before the storm really hits? All three are possible but another possibility is that the data is telling us lies.

Macro-economic policy in this country has helped lessen the extent of the downturn and the strong recovery in recent months in China has been a big part of the luck factor. Our exporters have managed to find markets even when global trade has collapsed, and so the contribution to GDP from rising trade and a recovering far…   [Read Full Text]