WELCOME TO THE RECOVERY – AT 8:41 A.M. ET:  Washington announces an economic adjustment.  They really need to put fresh batteries in those calculators.  From The New York Times:

The economy grew at a slower pace in the fourth quarter of 2013 than first thought, weighed down by disappointing retail sales, inventory adjustments and a less robust trade balance.

The Commerce Department said Friday it now estimates the economy grew by 2.4 percent in October, November and December, down from an initial estimate of 3.2 percent released on Jan. 30.

Economists had been expecting the government to revise the estimated rate of growth downward to 2.5 percent.

At 2.4 percent, the revised figure represents a substantial slowing from the pace of growth in the third quarter, 4.1 percent.

Most experts believe the economy will continue to expand at a lackluster pace in the first several months of 2014, with growth picking up over the remainder of the year. Economists are looking for growth of about 2 percent in the first quarter.

One reason for the current weakness is the more rapid pace of inventory gains in the second half of 2013, which tends to pull growth forward and then create slack as stockpiles at warehouses and store shelves are gradually wound down.

Still, after a burst of optimism late last year, fears have been rising that the economy is not gaining momentum as originally hoped and is entering another of the periodic slow patches that have characterized the recovery of the last five years.

COMMENT:  And the jobs picture is bleak.  The administration's answer seems to be more regulation and a crazed health-care system that is a track wreck on arrival.

Can conservatives capitalize on this mess?  It should be easy, but it won't be.  Unimaginative Republican candidates platforms and management have held the party back.  And the Dems have a built-in constituency made up of those people dependent on the government.  That number is expanding.

It will be hard, but our side can win, if the right fires are lit.

February 28,  2014