Federal government spending rises 9.3% in first quarter

10 articles · Updated · CounterPunch · May 5

The increase added 0.56 percentage points to GDP growth, with overall growth around 1.5% excluding federal spending after the prior quarter's shutdown-related drop.
Consumer spending grew 1.6%, led by healthcare and financial services, while discretionary categories weakened and first-quarter inflation hit a 4.5% annualised rate, the highest since 2022.
The report said war-related energy disruption and data-centre investment are adding inflation pressure, factory construction is falling sharply, and there is still no clear AI-driven productivity boom.

As AI drives up energy costs, are Americans paying for a productivity boom that has not even arrived yet?

Is America’s AI revolution built on foreign imports, creating a hidden and unsustainable economic vulnerability for the future?