Obama Economic Recovery: Commerce Department Revises Down 2014 First Qtr. GDP to -1.0%

And you thought 0.1% GDP was bad …

On Thursday the Commerce Department adjusted down the first quarter GDP, Gross domestic product, to – 1.0% for the first three months of 2014. The agency had initially last month estimated GDP grew at a 0.1% rate in the first quarter. Oops, missed it by that much. How’s that Obamanomics working out for you America?  A recession is defined as a period of temporary economic decline during which trade and industrial activity are reduced, generally identified by a fall in GDP in two successive quarters. However, because job wages have remained stagnant, if you have one, while food prices are up, gas prices are up and energy prices are up, most Americans feel that we are still in a recession.

The recovery that wasn’t. Of course the Obama folks are quick to point to the harsh winter weather for the downturn. Hmm, what happened to global warming? But what happened in the first quarter of 2014 … how about Obamacare enrollment?

The United States GDP shrank at an annual rate of 1.0 percent in the first quarter of 2014, according to the second estimate released by the Commerce Department. It is the worst performance in three years and comes lower than a preliminary estimated 0.1 percent expansion, due to a sharper fall in private inventory investment and a bigger trade deficit.

The downturn in the percent change in real GDP primarily reflected a downturn in exports, a larger decrease in private inventory investment, and downturns in nonresidential fixed investment and in state and local government spending that were partly offset by an upturn in federal government spending.

The price index for gross domestic purchases, which measures prices paid by U.S. residents, increased 1.3 percent in the first quarter, 0.1 percentage point less than in the advance estimate; this index increased 1.5 percent in the fourth quarter. Excluding food and energy prices, the price index for gross domestic purchases increased 1.3 percent in the first quarter, compared with an increase of 1.8 percent in the fourth.