It's August But Economic Chill May Be Here

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Bill Gross sees an economy growing 2% less but some how that means 25% less autos productiona and 25% less housing starts. OK I can see the theory on the housing starts. Starts is a small percentage of the overall housing base (since souses last a long time). But claiming the same 25 % drop for autos which wear out much faster is very odd and evidences to broad a brush in the comments.
3% growth will not feel great but despite the "jobless recovery" reteric there will he new jobs opening even though unemployment is high. That is people will be returning to the workforce and there will be new entrants. These will match the new jobs created in the expansion. So while jobs will be competitive to get there will be more true new openings which will feel better than today.
By the way, if Bill's 3% growth prediction comes true, inflation will not be huge.

Thoughtful of OR 8:17PM August 18, 2009

and he may be right about this. The questions we might need answered here are:
1) What sectors drove the 5% growth most?
2) What sectors are we keeping or losing on the way to 3% growth (or less)?
3) What can government do to see to it that future growth is centered in sensible things? For instance, do we want to grow obesity, alcoholism and health care? Do we want to grow TV and movies? Do we want to grow housing? Do we want to grow exports?
What? Macro is fine. But a bunch of micro added together is what macro is. So what are some goals we ought to be discussing?

Muser of NM 11:29AM August 18, 2009