Alternative Visions- War and US GDP

 The just released preliminary estimates for US third quarter 2023 GDP, showing how the estimated 4.9% annual rate of US growth is actually much lower than reported. Rasmus explains how GDP in 2013 was redefined, boosting its number by more than $500B a year. Also how US low balls the inflation adjustment to GDP to get a higher number. Prospects for GDP in coming 4th and 1st Quarter 2024 are forecast at less than 1% a quarter—as  both consumer spending and business investment ‘core’ of GDP slow significantly. (Core GDP in 3rd quarter only half, 2.5%, of the 4.9% already). The show next discusses the Israel-Hamas war, the strategies of the US and Israel, the massive US military buildup in the region (including 4 aircraft carriers & subs now) and the increasing likelihood of a US-Iran war that the neocons desperately want. Final comments also offered on the status of the US proxy war in Ukraine now that Zelensky has ordered his generals to go on the defensive everywhere, marking the official end of Ukraine’s failed summer offensive.