At least U.S. GDP trajectory is a known unknown – ZAWYA

At least U.S. GDP trajectory is a known unknown – ZAWYA

At least U.S. GDP trajectory is a known unknown U.S. real GDP contracted at a record 33% annual pace in the second quarter    U.S. President Donald Trump pulls his protective face mask from his pocket to show it to reporters as he speaks during a coronavirus disease (COVID-19) response news briefing at the White House in Washington, U.S., July 21, 2020. (The author is a Reuters Breakingviews columnist. The opinions expressed are his own.)NEW YORK - Breaking records can be good - but not when they're for economic disintegration. U.S. GDP crashed at a 33% annualized pace in the three months to June, the Bureau of Economic Analysis said on Thursday. At least the trajectory of America's economic output is a known unknown: The current quarter is less bad. How much so is anyone's guess, though. And the Federal Reserve - and especially Congress - can shift the outcome.The biggest one-time drop in GDP since government records began in 1947 was already a given, although the annualized figure for a quarterly change makes it look even worse than it is. So was a substantial rebound in activity since the depths plumbed early in the period after the coronavirus pandemic