With the pandemic raging around the world, America’s economy – like all the others internationally – has gone through a lot.  Now that the world is sort of entering into some kind of ‘new normal’ even with the pandemic, it is important to look at what kind of growth (or lack thereof) there has been with it.

There is actually some good news on this front. In Q2 2021 there was an 6.5 percent growth which has put the economy past the level it was at before the coronavirus hit.  Indeed GDP (according to the latest report from the Commerce Department) expanded in that quarter from its already solid 6.3 percent annual growth rate from Q1 2021.

Still, this was significantly lower than what the economists had hoped for which was over 8 percent but at least there is movement and the fact is, supply chains had been clogged because of the economy’s rapid reopening.

In other good news consumer spending jumped significantly for the second consecutive quarter.  Figures were: spending on goods (11.6 percent increase), spending on services (12 percent increase).  There was a jump in annual rate for the second quarter for businesses for 8 percent which increased the GDP by 1.1 percent.

According to a Wells Fargo senior economist, Sam Bullard:

“Consumers have plenty of income and wealth ammunition to support consumer spending, while business inventories remain lean and restocking efforts are poised to support business investment and overall GDP growth substantially in the second half of the year,”

So really, the economy is in a better state than it was at Q4 2019.