by Karl Denninger
Market-Ticker.org
No, that’s not what the printed headline is.
But it is what the actual headline is.
At 4.6% of GDP any GDP growth rate under 4.6% is actually negative. Ignore the so-called “real” GDP reported by the BEA; that uses their internal “deflator” which is flat-out bull****. Again, headline GDP has not exceeded 4.6% and there is no projection it will for 2020 either; utterly nobody believes that sort of number, never mind a 5.4% one by 2030.
This means the economy is, in real terms, contracting.
CBO is also projecting that “inflation adjusted” GDP will expand by 2.2% in 2020. This is their false deflator lie. Remember that inflation is always a monetary phenomena; it is never anything else. Further, the natural state of all economies absent tampering is mild deflation and that’s desirable; it is the result of productivity growth and innovation.