The reporting on the revisions to fourth quarter GDP noted that the growth rate was revised up from 5.7 percent to 5.9 percent. However, this increase was attributable to revisions to the rate of inventory accumulation (actually slower de- accumulation). The rate of final demand growth was actually revised down from 2.2 percent to 1.9 percent. This bad news went largely unnoticed.

–Dean Baker

Dean Baker is senior economist at the Center for Economic and Policy Research in Washington, D.C. He is the author of several books, including Rigged: How Globalization and the Rules of the Modern Economy Were Structured to Make the Rich Richer. Read more about Dean.