>Do you really think GDP was booming at the
>end of last year and the first quarter of this year? I'm a bit skeptical.
Who said it was booming? It's not doing all that much better than the long-term averages. Since quarterly GDP figs began in 1947, the average annualized quarterly growth rate is 3.5%. The record for the last few quarters is below, following the record of a serious boom, the emergence from the 1981-2 recession:
83Q1 +5.0% 83Q2 +9.3% 83Q3 +8.1% 83Q4 +8.4% 84Q1 +8.1% 84Q2 +7.1% average +7.7%
03Q1 +1.9% 03Q2 +4.1% 03Q3 +7.4% 03Q4 +4.2% 04Q1 +4.5% 04Q2 +3.0% average +4.2%