In case you missed it ...

... this item was shoved to the back of most newspapers along with the news of the ratification of the Iraqi constitution ...

GDP muscles through Economy brushes off storms and expands by 3.8 percent in 3Q, beating estimates

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. economy shook off headwinds from hurricanes Katrina and Rita to grow at a faster-than-expected 3.8 percent annual rate in the third quarter, a Commerce Department report showed Friday.

Strong spending by consumers and by the government helped power the expansion forward as growth in gross domestic product -- the measure of all goods and services produced within U.S. borders -- accelerated from the second quarter's 3.3 percent rate.

Wall Street economists had forecast GDP would advance at a 3.6 percent rate in the July-to-September quarter. The economy has now expanded at rates exceeding 3 percent for 10 straight quarters.

In its first snapshot of third-quarter growth, the Commerce Department said it could not separate the economic effects of the twin hurricanes that struck the U.S. Gulf Coast in late August and September, though it said incomes likely suffered a $40-billion blow from lost wages and rents. Third-quarter GDP growth would have been more robust if the storms had not placed some drag on incomes. [emphasis ours]
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Productive, innovative, creative Americans, take a bow!

Why, oh why can't we be more like Europe?!