What is the current measure of GDP, and generally, what does it say
about the health of the U.S. economy. what resources are available for
learning more about the GDP?

Dear mojito74,

The latest figures on the GDP of the U.S. were released by the Bureau
of Economic Analysis (BEA) on August 27. They describe the BEA's
calculation of the GDP in the second quarter of 2004, covering the
months of April, May, and June. According to these figures, the GDP at
the end of that period, expressed in current dollars, was $11,643.1
billion, or almost 12 trillion dollars. The current-dollar increase in
GDP during the second quarter was $170.5 billion, as opposed to the
first-quarter increase of $201.7 billion.

BEA: News Release: Gross Domestic Product and Corporate Profits
http://bea.gov/bea/newsrel/gdpnewsrelease.htm

When expressed in real dollars, which means that the currency is
adjusted for inflation, the GDP increased by 2.8 percent in the second
quarter, compared to 4.5 percent in the first quarter. This means that
the economy is still growing in real-dollar terms, but not quite as
fast as it had been shortly before. Most of the difference is
attributable to the decline in motor vehicle output, which subtracted
0.76 percentage point from the second-quarter increase after
contributing 0.30 percentage point to the first-quarter increase. This
phenomenon, in turn, can be attributed in large part to the global
rise in oil prices.

In the final analysis, the U.S. economy is doing well internally, but
its overall performance has been hampered by global events. Consumer
consumption and industrial production have been hit hard by petroleum
prices due to military conflict in the Middle East as well as Islamic
terror operations worldwide, which are funded to a large extent by
Saudia Arabia and other Muslim oil-producing nations. The economy can
expect substantial relief if and when these geopolitical troubles
subside. In the meantime, future labor conditions and corporate
spending are contingent on the outcome of the imminent presidential
elections and the consequent administration policies.

The most authoritative source of information on the GDP is the Bureau
of Economic Analysis, a division of the U.S. Department of Commerce.
The Bureau prepares the official figures that inform government policy
and private-sector analysis.

U.S. Department of Commerce: Bureau of Economic Analysis
http://bea.gov/

Bureau of Economic Analysis: Gross Domestic Product (GDP)
http://bea.gov/bea/dn/home/gdp.htm

Other learning resources are economics dictionaries, online tutorials,
and guides published by foreign governments or by non-governmental
agencies such as the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.

The Economist: Economics Dictionary: GDP
http://www.economist.com/research/Economics/alphabetic.cfm?LETTER=G#GDP

Statistics Canada: New method for GDP more like U.S. measure
http://www.statcan.ca/english/edu/tfeature/gdp.htm

International Monetary Fund: The World Economic Outlook
http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/weo/2003/01/data/

World Bank: Data and Statistics
http://www.worldbank.org/data/

If you feel that my answer is incomplete or inaccurate in any way, please
post a clarification request so that I have a chance to meet your needs
before you assign a rating.

Regards,

leapinglizard

Search Queries:

gross domestic product tutorial
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gdp learning resources
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&q=gdp+learning+resources&btnG=Google+Search

economics dictionary
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&q=economics+dictionary&btnG=Google+Search

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Request for Answer Clarification by mojito74-ga on 06 Sep 2004 09:31 PDT

Hi again, leapinglizard

 thanks, great answers, just what i needed, you have been a terrific
help because i didn't know where to look for those answers.If you got
the chance and take a look to my other questions that would be awsome,
i would love to keep working with you. If you need more information
let me know.

                                                      Thank you so much.

                                                                   Mojito74.

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Clarification of Answer by leapinglizard-ga on 06 Sep 2004 09:38 PDT

Thanks for the kind words. I'm very busy today, as I'm working on
deadline for an important project of mine, but I'll look at your other
questions tomorrow morning. I might be able to tackle a few of them,
but again, no promises.

leapinglizard

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Request for Answer Clarification by mojito74-ga on 06 Sep 2004 10:50 PDT

Hi leapinglizard

 I got your messsage, I know, I'm on deadline too because all my
questions are part of a project that i have and is due this thursday,
so I'm in the same boat.Thank you in advance for all the help you
could do. I also wanted to tell you that I changed the price of my
questions just a little to see if I might have some responds before
thursday at 6, i don't know, let's see.
thanks again, good luck with your project and hope to hear from you soon.

                                                         Mojito74.

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Clarification of Answer by leapinglizard-ga on 06 Sep 2004 11:03 PDT

Sure thing. (I'm just responding to clear the clarification request
from my research account.)

leapinglizard

AAAA++++ answer, great researcher, vey professional.   Thank you!