US growth exceeding projections

The dream goes on. Americans love their numbers. Amid the plethora of benign ones, US productivity growth has just come in at 5.3% for the second quarter. Confounding the critics, second quarter GDP growth exceeded all expectations at 5.2%. We believe that the second half of 2000 will see slower economic growth and take the full year to 4%. Inflation may be under control, but the danger still lurks. If consumers start increasing their spending by 10% in what is left of this year, the income/expenditure imbalance will widen again and Alan Greenspan will raise interest rates again. The oth...