US 2016 growth revised down to 1.9% from earlier 2.6% estimate. 1Q GDP only 1.1% due to slowdown in business investment. Long range forecasts also revised down-WSJ

7/15/16, "White House Cuts Economic Growth Forecasts," Wall St. Journal, Nick Timiraos

"Budget office sees 1.9% growth in 2016, 2.5% in 2017"

"The White House cut its forecasts for economic growth and interest rates, resulting in slight reductions in projected deficits over the coming decade. 

The new estimates were published Friday in the White House budget office’s “Mid-Session Review,” which updates the economic and fiscal projections made in the president’s February budget presentation to Congress.

The White House now forecasts that gross domestic product will rise 1.9% this year and 2.5% in 2017, down from estimates of 2.6% for both years in its February forecast. It reduced long-run growth forecasts, for years after 2018, to 2.2% from 2.3%.

Gross domestic product grew at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.1% in the first quarter, the weakest pace in a year, due largely to a slowdown in business investment
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The deficit is expected to rise to 3.3% of GDP this year, from 2.5% last year, a projection that was unchanged in Friday’s report. The increase largely reflects policy changes resulting from last fall’s bipartisan budget and tax agreements."...


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Comment: If you wanted to kill a country and not go to jail for it, how could you do a better job than the US political class has been doing for decades?


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