The U.S. Gross Domestic Product rose by 2.8% in the third quarter of this year, according to the Commerce Department. That is slightly encouraging, although below the 3.1% growth rate that “economists surveyed by The Wall Street Journal had expected. It also marked a slight pullback from a 3% rate in the second quarter.”
But is this due to a strong economy or is the government pumping that number with hormones due to increased spending? Federal government expenditures soared by 9.7% in the same quarter, meaning that government spending added 0.9% to that 2.8% growth rate.
According to economist Brian Wesbury, that means that “real private GDP [is] less than 2%.”
