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.)
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2 Comments
Did they ever fill up that hole?
nope. can't see it. or something like that.
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