How much is the economy slowing?

Did anyone see this article in the recent Economist? Third quarter GDP indicate the economy grew at a 1.6% annualized rate. Which is much less than most predicted and a full point lower than the previous three months. Decline in homebuilding accounts for a large portion of this GDP decline, with residential homebuilding declining by 17% this most recent quarter. According to The Economist the declines in house building accounted for two-fifths of the quarterly fall in GDP growth. See the full article here.

So what does this mean? According to the FDIC (Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation) Utah is experiencing some slowing housing growth, but not at the rate of the rest of the nation. In addition, FDIC reports that while some western states have recently experienced slowing job growth Utah's employment growth has increased by 3.6% from last year. Largely this growth is in construction related occupations. However, FDIC also concludes, "Recent declines in permit and sales activity point to slower residential construction activity in the months ahead, with possible adverse implications for overall job growth and the demand for construction financing." Something for analysts to keep a close eye for the next quarter.

New website

Okay, so after months of anticipation (by whom you might ask) the League of Cities and Towns is launching a new website....and along with that a new blog for me. We'll see how long this lasts. Kind of feels like a New Year's resolution, I'm going to be more optimistic that this lasts longer than one week. I'm hopeful that this blog will remain up to date and provide some utility to those visiting our website.

And some utility in allowing me to discuss ideas, solicit feedback, and sort through some important policy questions.