GDP Growth Drops to 3.2% Falling Below Analyst Expectations in First Quarter of 2010

Bad news for the Obama economic recovery, GDP grew by only 3.2%, below analysts expectations.

The slow-motion economic recovery has continued in the early months of 2010, according to new data that both affirm that an expansion is solidly in place and underscore that it is likely to remain sluggish.

Gross domestic product, the broadest measure of economic activity, rose at a 3.2 percent annual rate in the first three months of the year, the government said Friday. That was the third straight quarter of increase, driven by a rise in spending by American consumers and increased business investment.

President Barack Obama states after the GDP fell from 5.7% to 3.2% that we are going in the right direction. Really?

From The Gateway Pundit, the text of Obama’s comments:

“The economy that was losing jobs a year ago is creating jobs today. After the single biggest economic crisis in our lifetimes, we’re heading in the right direction. We’re moving forward. Our economy is stronger — that economic heartbeat is growing stronger. But I measure progress by a different pulse.”

A different pulse, eh? You mean you make the stuff up as you go along and claim victory when numbers are positive and spin through your teeth to the American public when they are otherwise.

As stated at Hot Air, in January, Barack Obama and Democrats insisted that the 5.7% annual growth rate in the fourth quarter of 2009 showed that their stimulus plan had set the American economy back on track. A reduction of GDP to 3.2% is hardly a number that Obama can hang his hat on to boast of an economy in full recovery.