World economy worse, US GDP shrinks 3.8%

By Stephen Pate, NJN Network, Charlottetown, PEI, Canada, January 30, 2009 8:47 EST
with story from Reuters

The US economy sunk deeper into recession in Q4 2008 by 3.8% the worst decline in more than a quarter century. The Bureau of Economic Accounts reported at 8:30 EST today “Real gross domestic product — the output of goods and services produced by labor and property located in the United States — decreased at an annual rate of 3.8 percent in the fourth quarter of 2008,(that is, from the third quarter to the fourth quarter), according to advance estimates released by the Bureau of Economic Analysis. In the third quarter, real GDP decreased 0.5 percent.”

On the heels of that report, Reuters reports deepening trouble in England and Japan. “Japan sank deeper into recession with industrial output tumbling at a record pace and inflation near zero, while data was expected to show the U.S. economy contracting at its fastest rate in 26 years. As the world global economic crisis deepened, Euro zone unemployment hit 8.0 percent in December.”