Outside the Beltway

Economic growth in the first quarter wasn’t as bad as first estimated, but it still wasn’t very good. And the future is unclear at best.

The first scorecard for President Trump’s first economic quarter in office isn’t exactly very good.

The Trump Administration is out with a tax plan, but it’s seriously lacking in details.

Another Federal Court has found another Trump Executive Order unconstitutional.

The tiny Balkan nation of Montenegro is set to become the latest member of the NATO alliance despite the fact that there is seemingly no good reason for it.

A major legislative defeat for Paul Ryan, the House GOP, and President Trump.

My latest is out at RealClearDefense.

Budget hawks in the GOP face a showdown with Donald Trump’s spending ambitions this year that will likely decide whether we’ll ever get spending under control.

Megaprojects are not a partisan thing. Megaprojects are large projects typically costing more than $1 billion and often tens of billions of dollars and impacting the lives of tens of thousands of people if not millions.

The economy grew strongly in the third quarter of the year, but it doesn’t seem likely to last.

Initial reports for the third quarter show strong economic growth during the summer;

A mostly mediocre jobs report for August.

The head of the Federal Reserve tells Congress that the economy is unlikely to enter recession this years, but isn’t exactly going to be booming either.

A report card for the 2009 Stimulus Bill.

March’s Jobs Report was good, but could be better.

Not exactly inspiring economic news from the Commerce Department.

An anemic end to 2015 raises concerns about the health of the economy going forward.

The final report to third quarter Gross Domestic Product shows that growth over the summer was, at best, tepid.

The election of an anti-austerity government in Portugal is raising some concerns.

The economy performed a little better than previously reported over the summer. It’s not great, but it’s probably enough to convince the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates next month.

Gross Domestic Product grew at a sluggish 1.5% in the just-concluded Third Quarter, calling the Federal Reserve’s apparent plan to raise interest rates at some point even further into question.

The final GDP revision for the second quarter showed the economy grew at a nearly four percent rate.

Today’s revision of Second Quarter G.D.P. growth was good news, but it doesn’t seem likely to last.

The economy rebounded from it’s winter shock, but it still doesn’t seem strong enough to justify the Federal Reserve’s plan to raise interest rates.

In the past month, the Chinese stock market has lost more than 1/3 of its value.

The economy contracted in the first quarter of 2015, and that suggests the rest of the year isn’t going to be very good either.

Economic growth slowed significantly in the first three months of 2015, but it’s not clear what that means going forward.

December’s jobs growth numbers were very good, but the numbers below the headlines show that there’s still work to be done.

The Commerce Department had a Christmas present for investors, businesses, and consumers today.

Strong jobs growth in November means that 2014 is already the best year for jobs growth since 1999.

Russia’s own government is projecting that its economy will slip into recession next year. How that will impact Putin’s current belligerence remains to be seen.

A knowledgeable observer has a dim forecast.

Quietly, oil prices have been falling for months now. That’s potentially a very big deal.

Germany’s new defense minister has promised a more robust role but lacks the ability to back her words with action.

After a disappointing August, the jobs report for September showed the same good numbers we’ve seen for much of 2014.

Trending on Twitter this morning is a collection of infographics compiled by Ezra Klein under the heading “22 maps and charts that will surprise you.”

A strong rebound for the economy from the downturn at the start of the year.

Alabamians like to exclaim, “Thank God for Mississippi.” Perhaps it’s time for that slogan to cross the Pond.

A much better Second Quarter.

A US-EU free trade zone is a no-brainer. But the devil is in the details.

The first three months of the year were worse for the economy than first thought.