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- <text id=93TT1693>
- <title>
- May 17, 1993: It's in the Numbers:Business Is Slow
- </title>
- <history>
- TIME--The Weekly Newsmagazine--1993
- May 17, 1993 Anguish over Bosnia
- </history>
- <article>
- <source>Time Magazine</source>
- <hdr>
- THE WEEK, Page 21
- BUSINESS
- It's in the Numbers: Business Is Slow
- </hdr>
- <body>
- <p>Leading indicators and other economic data say the economy is
- still sputtering
- </p>
- <p> His economic stimulus plan may have been shot down by the
- Senate, but Bill Clinton continues to stockpile figures to
- justify the $16.5 billion program. Lately, in fact, he's been
- carrying an uncomfortable surplus. The index of leading
- indicators plunged 1% in March, the largest drop in nearly three
- years; consumer spending fell 0.4% in the same month, the
- biggest decline in a year; factory orders were down 1.5%,
- another sign of a slowdown in manufacturing. Even the good
- economic news was tainted. A survey by the Federal Reserve
- concluded that the economy would grow 2.5% to 3% this year,
- about the same as in 1992 and not fast enough to lower the
- nation's 7% jobless rate.
- </p>
- <p> The figures left economists underwhelmed. After a weak
- first quarter, some worried, the nation might slip back into a
- recession. Most economists, however, blamed the slowdown on the
- snow and rainstorms that battered the South, West and Northeast
- during February and March. Still, the Administration can expect
- more bad news, says an influential group of chief executives.
- In its first report card on the Clinton Administration, the
- Business Council predicted sluggish growth ahead due to the
- continuing downturn in Europe and other markets.
- </p>
-
- </body>
- </article>
- </text>
-
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