Indeed, in July we learned from the revisions to the government’s economic data that the recession was deeper and the recovery was weaker than we had previously thought. Some of this weakness is perfectly understandable, given the unanticipated shocks we experienced.
We began the year with severe snowstorms in the East, then the earthquake and ensuing disasters in Japan, followed by the unrest in the Middle East and North Africa that led to a run-up in oil prices, and a renewed concern about European sovereign debt. And all of that occurred before May.