The Splash

David Leonhardt authored an article in the NYTimes which does impress. The GDP rose in Q2 by an annualized 2.9% rather than 2.5%, while residential investment declined by 9.8%. Wages and Salaries supposedly rose by a 7% annual rate between Q4-2005 and Q2-2006, so they accounted for 46.1% of Output in Q2-2006 (of course, no mention of the percentage increase of Energy products during the same Period). An ideal Quote:

Joshua Shapiro, the chief United States economist at MFR, said that much of the income increase likely went to people who work on Wall Street or for hedge funds. The biggest spike was in the first quarter, when financial companies typically pay bonuses, and other data — including Labor Department numbers on wage growth and private-sector surveys on consumer confidence — suggest that most families are not receiving pay increases that outpace inflation.

another,

For the first time in a year, foreign trade lifted economic growth, as the value of imports rose just 0.6 percent, while the value of exports grew 5.1 percent.

A Reuters article relates a larger decline in Business investment and equipment to a reduction of 1.6%, the lowest since Q4-2002. Another article tells Us that the EIA says that Gasoline stocks are up 5% year over year, but Distillates are down 1% year over year The Associate Press article on Energy that Demand year over year rose 2.8% over the Period of the last four Weeks. It also mentioned only 300,000 barrels of the Distillates were for Heating (do We smell the scent of roaring Heating bills, especially with the vast number of new Homes year over year). Life in the United States. lgl