1.) PCEs continued to contribute fairly consistently all four quarters.
2.) Investment was a bit lackluster; it contributed some, but not in as a large a way as we would like.
3.) Exports played a very important role; while they were not the primary driver of growth, they contributed in three out of four quarters.
4.) Government spending (or the self-imposed austerity) actually contracted from growth.
Note the strong contributions of durable goods for the first two quarters. My guess is the first quarters pulled some growth forward from the third quarter -- which was also negatively impacted by the debt ceiling debacle. Service spending greatly accelerated in the third and fourth quarter.
First note that investment in equipment and software was strong throughout the last four quarter period. If businesses are scared to invest because of massive regulation, it sure doesn't show in the numbers. In two quarters massive contractions in inventories greatly effected the overall number. Note that residential investment is non-existent. In a solid recovery, we'd be seeing a heck of a lot more investment in this area. Finally, non-residential structures contributed in three out of four quarters.
Finally, note that government spending took away from growth, with a big bite coming from national defense contractions and state and local cutbacks.
So, looking at these numbers, we see the following;
1.) Consumer spending is still increasing, although not as strongly as we would like.
2.) Lack of residential investment is really hurting the overall numbers.
3.) Business is still investing in a variety of equipment and software.
4.) The contraction in state and local budgets is also hurting overall growth as well.
5.) Exports are also playing a pretty important role in the expansion to date.
