Tracking the GDP Changes

The Commerce Department issued its final revisions of the fourth-quarter GDP numbers late last week: It seems that instead of 5.9 percent growth, as had been reported earlier, the actual number is 5.6 percent. It's also worth reminding everyone that none of this really matters. Our economy grew at a certain level in the fourth quarter of 2009, and changing the number that's assigned to it doesn't affect what happened at all.

The bigger question is: where does the GDP number go from here? The Obama administration and most analysts peg the growth rate at around 3 percent for the remainder of the year. Most of the time, that's a perfectly respectable figure. In the current environment, though, it will feel very sluggish, and won't be enough to greatly affect the unemployment figures.

The estimate for GDP growth for the first quarter of 2010 - we really should call it the first estimate - will arrive at the end of April. We'll keep you posted.