Economy

Greg Gerritt  -  In the first quarter of 2026 the economic growth rate was 2.1%, which is not that far off of the long term trend, in which the US has averaged something like 2.3 or 2.4% economic growth per year for the last 40 years. Admittedly the guy who invented Gross Domestic Product thought it was a really lousy way to measure the economy, but it is what we use, so it is worth noting. Growth in the second quarter was 1.5%, mostly due to the stupidity of the Trump administration in starting a war that has no plan and resulted in a major disruption of global energy markets and rising inflation. The data from the BEA is adjusted for inflation, but even so, rising prices caused consumer spending to slow.

Unemployment rates are barely changed for the last year, the rate nationally is about 4.3%, which is pretty close to the long term average, though when the rate is lower it is much easier to find a job so a lot of us prefer to see a rate closer to 3%. But the interesting thing is that overall employment has barely moved, even in places in which the unemployment rate is down. I have not done any kind of statistical analysis, just eyeballed the raw data which is presented as total employment in each state comparing the last two months, and the same months last year, the total number of people employed in those same months, and the unemployment rates in the same months.