Reply #21: Housing, credit markets may hurt economy (ya think?)

[UpInArms]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071119/ap_on_bi_ge/economic_outlook?_ylt=Ag50nJ.yRDSuSaU4DTYcNNOb.HQA

WASHINGTON - The painful collapse of the housing market along with the credit crunch will weigh down economic growth in the final three months of this year and cause economic activity to lag in 2008.

It all means that the risk of a recession has increased, economic forecasters say.

The latest look-ahead from the National Association for Business Economics says the gross domestic product is on track to expand at just a 1.5 percent pace from October through December. If that proves correct, it would mark a sizable decline from the July-September rate of 3.9 percent.

The group's new fourth-quarter projection compared with September's prediction of a 2.5 percent growth rate. The GDP — the value of all goods and services produced in the United States_ is considered the best barometer of the country's economic fitness.

For all of this year, the forecasters expect the economy to grow by 2.1 percent, which would be the weakest showing since 2002. Back then, the economy was emerging from a recession and grew by just 1.6 percent.

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