Unexpected: GDP at 1.3%

How bad is this moribund Obama economy? The so-called experts predicted a dreary 1.6% GDP growth for the second quarter. It's even worse than that.

Gross domestic product expanded at a 1.3% annual rate in the second quarter, the Commerce Department said, after a downwardly revised 0.4% gain in the January-March quarter. Economists had forecast GDP growing at a 1.6% rate in the second quarter from a previously estimated 1.9% rate in the first quarter. This was the weakest six months period since the recovery began in the second quarter of 2009. Growth in the second quarter was held down by weak consumer spending, which only expanded at a 0.1% rate. State and local government spending was also weak in the quarter.

So we went from an estimated 1.9% to 1.6% to now 1.3%. Expect that to be quietly downwardly revised in a couple of months, just like last quarter.

Well, at least something went up. Obama will probably consider this an accomplishment.

Inflation, as measured by the core personal consumption expenditure index, rose 2.1% in the second quarter, the fastest pace since the fourth quarter of 2009.

It's all so unexpected.

The U.S. economy expanded at a slower pace than expected in the spring as consumers cut back on spending, while revisions showed the slowdown since the beginning of the year was much more drastic than previously thought.