If you want to know why the economy is stalling out...

There's a lot of commentary this morning about those dreadful GDP numbers. Yes, the nation is still growing, but now by much - just 1.3 percent during the April-June quarter. Here's a nice summation from Naroff Economic Advisors (via Real Time Economics)

Recovery? What recovery? Economic growth has largely stalled led by a depressed consumer and budget cutting state and local governments. Household spending came to a screeching halt as vehicle sales tanked in the spring. That created a sharp decline in durable goods spending. Businesses continued to invest but the demand for equipment and software grew at the slowest pace in two years. And then there were state and local governments, where budget cutting has become de rigueur. The slicing and dicing reduced economic growth by over 0.4 percent point. That is not chump change and shows that my comment that there is no such thing as a free budget cut was not just a cute phrase. Thankfully, the trade deficit narrowed on solid increases in exports and weak imports. That kept growth above one percent.

We're hearing more and more about the effect that government cuts at the state and local level are having on the overall economy - a reminder to the radical right that their intractability over debt has real-life consequences.