It turns out our economy was a little stronger than initially reported back in the fourth quarter of 2010. The Commerce Department's first report of GDP growth for that quarter came in at 2.8 percent, but now it's been revised upward to 3.1 percent.
What changed? There were two basic factors that came in greater than initially expected: exports and consumer spending. The amount of goods and services we exported rose by 8.6 percent in the fourth quarter. And consumer spending rose by 4.0 percent - the highest quarterly increase since the onset of the recession.
That 3.1 percent growth rate is perfectly normal in ordinary times, and at one point would have been considered a healthy situation. From 2000 to the beginning of the recession, we only saw four quarters where the growth rate exceeded 4 percent. But this economy is still shaky enough that we will eventually need to see growth that's more than just solid.
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