Once Again, The White House Celebrates Mediocrity  Sometimes I
feel like 'Alice in Wonderland'. When I look at government data
on the economy, nothing is as it seems.    Take today's GDP
number; the big kahuna of economic numbers. The government says
the economy expanded 2% in the third quarter, better than the
1.9% that was expected.  Good? Sure, until you realize the
improvement is largely due to government spending. Federal
spending is up 9.5% in the quarter.  You have to go back more
than 2 years to beat that. When federal non-defense spending
jumped sharply, and back even further to the depths of the
recession and the height of stimulus spending to see a similar
gain.  Smoke and mirrors.  Government spending isn't the same
thing as a company’s small and large expanding, growing and
selling, and generating revenues. Private sector revenues come
from people that willingly buy products. Government spending is
financed by compulsory levies.  One definitely is better than
the other as a source of economic gro