There was a time when the U.S. was considered one of the world’s growth laggards. A new set of countries had taken center stage in terms of driving the global economy forward. Often referred to a BRIC nations, Brazil, Russia, India and China were supposed to take the world’s economy to new heights. How things have changed.
Both Brazil and Russia are now in recession and analysts around the world are speculating upon the health of China’s economy. Among the four BRIC nation’s, only India, the world’s largest democracy, is performing well economically. America, the world’s most powerful democracy, also appears resurgent, at least for now. The Commerce Department recently sharply revised its second quarter growth estimate to a healthy annual pace of three point seven percent.
As pointed out by writer Nelson Schwartz, much of the improvement in overall economic activity during the quarter ending June thirtieth came from strong spending by businesses expanding factories and constructing buildings. State and local government spending also helped support a solid second quarter performance. However, inventory levels also expanded, which suggests that investment in that category could slip and subtract from growth during the current quarter.
