Your Web Site
First Trust's Brian Wesbury is predicting a remarkably positive GDP for the second quarter of 2008 (HT: Mark Perry): Late next week the government will release initial estimates of real economic activity in the second quarter. Not long ago, in early April, when the quarter was just beginning, the consensus forecast for Q2 2008 real GDP growth was 0.0%, with as many economists predicting contraction as were predicting growth. Now, three months later, the consensus is up to 2.2%. And no surprise - we are forecasting a 3% growth rate, more bullish than almost any other economist. Here's what Wesbury anticipates will drive GDP to the high end of the forecasters' consensus: Personal Consumption: We already have full consumption data for April and May as well as auto sales and retail sales for June. The only piece missing is June... [read full story]
