, Columnist
You Can't Trust the Usual Gauges on This Economy
Comparisons with potential GDP show the U.S. overheating. That does not compute.
The level of GDP divided by the level of potential GDP.
You can tell a happy story with the headline numbers from last week's estimate of third-quarter GDP growth. But a closer reading is troubling.
A second consecutive quarter of 3 percent growth, especially when natural disasters had some negative impact on economic activity, is good news. As disaster-ravaged communities get back their feet, and we get a short-term boost from rebuilding efforts, we should see a strong fourth quarter as well.