America's Economic Mess: State by State Analysis

The national scene is miserable, but vast divergences unfold among states.

Source: Department of Commerce

Growth rates for individual states were just released for the First Quarter of 2022 and the dismal data provides some important insights into the chaotic condition of the US economy under Biden.

The overall GDP pace for the United States in Q1 of 2022 was a miserable -1.6%. As I have long forecasted in my writings and broadcasts, the inevitability of a US recession is no longer really in doubt, the only remaining mystery lies in the extent and severity of that recession.

GDP, gross domestic product, calculates the value of all goods and services produced within a region or country in a given period. GDP is basically the country or state equivalent to a top-line revenue number for an individual company.

Right now, the “company” of the United States flounders under dreadful management. No wonder Consumer Confidence, as measured by the University of Michigan survey, reaches an all-time low in a poll that dates back to the 1950’s.

Parsing the broad, national GDP data into state breakdowns shows some more granular detail on the policy failures that drive the current economic carnage that unfolds across our country. For example, the numbers just released by the Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Economic Analysis reveal that the hardest-hit states in Q1 were all heavily energy-producing.