Here's some interesting news. I clipped it for just what's pertinent to this thread:
>>Q1 US GDP revised up Amid Mountainous Inventories
By Alden Bentley
NEW YORK, May 28 (Reuters) - The U.S. economy verged on overheating in the first quarter but has probably pulled back from the brink in the second quarter to absorb a huge inventory glut and accommodate weak overseas demand, economists said. First quarter gross domestic product (GDP) was revised upward on Thursday, as business inventories swelled to a record high. But the expansion was tempered by a worsening U.S. trade position amid weak demand from Asia.
The trade deficit expanded under a flood of imports, but economists said domestic final sales were insufficient to soak up many of these goods, signaling a coming slowdown. ''We had two things that were different quite a bit from what was reported a month ago,'' said Gary Thayer, senior economist at A.G. Edwards and Co. ''One was net exports, which was a bigger drag on the economy. But a lot of goods that weren't sold piled up in inventories.''
Business inventories were adjusted to up $100.7 billion from $77 billion originally, while net exports were revised to a $214.7 billion shortfall from $199.7 billion. Imports in the quarter were revised up to show a 17.7 percent increase from 11.6 percent originally. Exports were underestimated slightly and adjusted to show a three percent decline from a 3.4 percent fall.
''We're just not getting the strong demand from overseas that we used to have with the Asian problem. It's a situation that is related to the strong dollar and probably will be a continued drag on the economy,'' Thayer said. The dollar's strength against the devalued currencies of Southeast Asia and other struggling emerging market economies has helped prevent imported inflation and has staved off price increases by U.S. companies striving to remain competitive, economists said.
The Asian crisis has also helped to keep the Federal Reserve on hold. Although the Fed maintains a tightening bias, it is wary of fanning market meltdowns by hiking interest rates to slow the U.S. economy, the economists said.<<
Lot's of importing being done by the US, but a big slowdown in exporting. Those empty containers heading back to Asia are going to come back to bite us sometime. When? Who knows. Americans sure love to consume!
MikeM(From Florida)
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