> [I don't get how this is so high? It seems like a huge jump. Is it
> because the workers who are employed are becoming extremely productive? -s]
Just to add to what Michael mentioned, delivery of the StimPak funds peaked in the second half of 2009, so this bump was expected. But for the entire year, GDP fell 2.4%, the worst since the Great Depression.
Problem is, there's nothing else holding up the US economy. No real estate bubble, no stock bubble, bank lending is in decline, 1 in 4 mortgages are underwater, 1 in 9 Americans have no jobs. This is why Obama's recent move towards full-blown austerity is terrifyingly dangerous. The states are in awful shape -- if nothing is done, another $180 billion of services will have to be cut starting this summer. It's not going to be blood on the floor, we're talking chunks of lung and liver.
(One proviso: we shouldn't confuse the US meltdown with global apocalypse. The BRICs are experiencing a rapid recovery, the EU is turning the corner.)
-- DRR