With an anemic 1.8% growth in GDP, reality is finally hitting the press. After bragging about that a historic boom was underway, The media is finally acknowledging the obvious. There is no Obama Boom, nor are economic conditions improving. All their cheer-leading didn’t work to create a consumer lead boon. Bernanke’s QE2 set off inflation at a time of stagnant wages. This killed any chance for a media led boom to occur. Now they finally admit the truth.

Doubts have been cast over the strength of the US economic recovery after output grew at an annualised rate of only 1.8 per cent in the first quarter.

A surge in oil prices held back consumption growth, while public spending fell at every tier of the US government.

[….]

At this stage of a recovery, growth often rebounds by between 4 and 5 per cent. Expansion of less than 2 per cent will not create enough jobs to keep up with population growth and cut the US unemployment rate of 8.8 per cent.

The dollar fell further on release of the growth numbers as investors judged that weak growth would cause US interest rates to stay lower for longer.

The Obama Boom is over. Welcome to the Obama 3rd World style Stagflation!