economy

Transit ridership in the US in the first three quarters was 7.71b this year compared to 8.01b, a drop of 3.8%, according to data from the American Public Transit Association. The decline is very similar to the decline in road traffic and gives the lie to a common reporters' storyline that the road traffic drop is part of some structural shift toward transit use and away from automobiles.

Wishful thinking on their part!

The extent of the decline in the US economy in the December quarter (Q4) is becoming clearer. Revised estimates from the Bureau of Economic Analysis show seasonally adjusted real GDP declined 1.6% Q4/Q3 or an annual 6.2% seasonally adjusted. This is a considerably steeper decline than the 3.8% initially released.

BEA now reports real seasonally adjusted DecQ expressed in annual terms:

- personal consumption off 4.3%

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The Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission is replacing a set of 51 year old bridges on their Northwest Extension (I-476) in the Pocono mountains - bridges over the LeHigh River and Canal and over a nearby Pohopoco Creek. About 3.2km (2 miles) of new approach road work is needed plus removal of the the 1957 spans.

In 2007 the work was costed at $125m.

The uneducated attention deficit disordered children employed by the Wall Street Journal as journalists are at it again, writing incoherent drivel on the latest economic news from the auto industry. These disgraces to the profession manage this morning to convey two contradictory notions in one short story - an extraordinary accomplishment in obfuscation.