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    the hole's not getting any smaller...

    Gregory Walker
    Jun 1, '12 10:22 AM EST

    out from the commerce department today:

    "WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. builders increased their spending on construction projects for a second month in April. A pickup in home construction and commercial projects

    offset a fifth consecutive decline in government spending.

     

    The Commerce Department says construction spending rose 0.3 percent in April, matching an upwardly revised 0.3 percent March gain.

    The consecutive gains pushed spending to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $820.7 billion to March. That is 7.6 percent above a 12-year low hit in March 2011. Still, the level of spending is roughly half of what economists consider to be healthy. (emphasis mine).

     

    Residential construction rose 2.8 percent in April, the best showing in six months, to an annual rate of $256.1 billion. Recent data shows that housing has stabilized after years of weakness following the collapse of the housing boom."

     

    upshot? if an indicator which is traditionally 8% of your GDP is running at half capacity, your GDP is -4% out of the gate. we've said it once before:

     

    fix the construction sector and you fix what ails the economy right now.

     

    (and, yes, this is where the government should be spending much more than they have been, to help jump start that sector. especially when borrowing is at a historical low yet again.)



     
    • 2 Comments

    • noripigu

      Did they ever fill up that hole?

      Jun 4, 12 3:04 am  · 
       · 

      nope. can't see it. or something like that.

      Jun 4, 12 2:21 pm  · 
       · 

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Central to the blog is a long running interest in how we construct practices that enable and promote the kind of work we are all most interested in. From how firms are run, structured, and constructed, the main focus will be on exploring, expanding and demystifying how firms operate. I’ll be interviewing different practices – from startups to nationally recognized firms, bringing to print at least one a month. Our focus will be connecting Archinect readers with the business of practice.

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