Gdp

EVEN THOUGH the proposed General Development Plan lays out the blueprint for Anne Arundel County's future growth, most residents seem oblivious about the plan and its impact.It is understandable. Except for professional planners, architects and engineers, developers and landowners who have a keen self-interest in general land use topics such as zoning designations, GDP's issues are rather abstract for most residents.It is specific topics, such as the vacant land next door that may become a subdivision, or the possibility that a neighborhood carry-out wants to become a 400-seat restaurant, that get most people's attention.

ECONOMIC theorists have often stood by their numbers, but what happens when they're off by almost $100 billion? For some, it means panic. For others, it's just old news.The gap is between the two broadest indicators of the health of the country's $8 trillion economy -- the gross domestic product and the gross domestic income.The more commonly known GDP is the sum of the value of products and services produced in the United States. GDI measures how much is being earned from the sale of those products and services.

PARIS -- Two themes have dominated discussion of Hong Kong's return to Chinese sovereignty: human rights and China's supposed future global geopolitical challenge. Both are grand distractions from the regional political issues that will dominate the start of the 21st century.The current debate asks whether China will respect the Western-style human rights regime installed in Hong Kong by its last British governor, Chris Patten. The answer must be no. This conception of individual rights is not only subversive of the present Chinese government's political system but inconsistent with the politico-cultural assumptions of much of the region.

WASHINGTON -- Sales of new single-family homes in the United States fell in April to the lowest level in six months, taking some of the luster off another government report yesterday showing that the economy grew at a revised 5.8 percent rate in the first quarter -- its fastest pace in a decade.A warning from Intel Corp., the world's largest computer chip maker, that its second-quarter profits and sales will be below estimates, also heightened concerns that the economy may be losing steam.

WASHINGTON -- When Giovanni Gio-litti, prime minister in many perishable and forgettable Italian governments between 1892 and 1921, was asked if it was difficult to govern Italy, he replied, ''Not at all, but it's useless.''Americans who feel that way about the governance of their country can point to the contours of the balanced-budget agreement, which is said to reflect healthy and historic ''compromise.''The president proposed holding domestic spending to essentially its current portion of GDP, continuing the decline of defense spending as a portion of GDP, and allowing entitlement spending to continue to grow relative to discretionary spending.

The economy unexpectedly grew at a slightly slower pace in the fourth quarter than previously estimated, and inflation, while subdued, was higher, according to government reports yesterday.The figures showed:The gross domestic product, the total output of goods and services, expanded at a 3.8 percent annual rate, down from the previous estimate of 3.9 percent. Analysts had expected a 4.0 percent gain.The price deflator, a measure of price increases, grew at a 1.5 percent pace in the fourth quarter.

WASHINGTON -- This presidential season is defined by a double paradox: The voters' conservatism is making them resistant to Bob Dole's message and tolerant of Bill Clinton's performance.Conservatives have told the country that the federal government is less useful than it thinks. Convinced, the country has concluded that stewardship of the government is not nearly as important as it was during the Cold War and when the government had confidence in, and money for, grand domestic designs.This diffidence of the electorate makes it difficult for Senator Dole to communicate a sense of urgency, or even get the electorate's attention.

WHEN scientists' models of reality stop working, first they check their math.Then they check reality.Astronomer Percival Lowell deduced the existence of Pluto by observing the crooked orbit of Neptune. A similarly small anomaly, this one in the economic universe, may be telling us something equally portentous about the country's future.The unexplained phenomenon is a bulge in federal tax collections.The theoretical, unseen object behind it is economic growth -- growth that surpasses the official figures, growth that is beyond statisticians' telescopes.

A SHORT WHILE ago, the media carried a number of hyped-up stories about an economic surge manifested by a 2.8 percent a-year rise in the first-quarter gross domestic product (GDP). Last week the figure was reduced downward to 2.3 percent, but government experts say we still ought to be happy; the economy is in sound shape. I have a question: Are these folks living on planet Earth?It is easy to understand why, when the GDP increases during a president's watch, the president will lay claim to improving the economy.

Move over horse racing, farming and manufacturing, you're being replaced.Over the past five years, the storage and shipment of goods has become the fastest growing industry in Maryland, accounting for roughly 40 percent of the state's gross domestic product, according to a study by an industry trade group and the Johns Hopkins University."