What’s driving the GDP slowdown?
Marketplace All-in-One
Marketplace
4.8 • 1.3K Ratings
🗓️ 30 April 2025
⏱️ 11 minutes
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Summary
The Commerce Department reported the U.S. economy contracted by 0.3% in the first quarter of this year. We’ll break down the GDP math formula and dig into what the latest report says about where the US economy may be headed. And, should businesses be transparent about the impact of tariffs on prices? A nixed plan from Amazon serves as a cautionary tale of the political risks. Plus, feeling stressed these days? Cow cuddling and bee therapy might help.
Here’s everything we talked about today:
-"Trump blames Biden after GDP shrinks in first quarter, says growth will 'take a while'" from CNBC
-"Businesses weigh how much to tell customers about tariffs' impact on price" from Marketplace
-"Trump-Bezos call sets stage for tense earnings report from Amazon" from CNBC
-"Trump vs. Amazon’s Brilliant Tariff Idea" from The Wall Street Journal
-"The Americans Fled Vietnam 50 Years Ago. I Visited the Buildings They Left Behind." from The New York Times
"Anxious about the world? Cow cuddling or bee buzzing might help ease your stress" from The Denver Post
Got a question for the hosts? Email [email protected] or leave us a voicemail at 508-U-B-SMART.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | That's right. All right. Let's go. Let's go. I got things to do. |
| 0:06.6 | I should find the script. |
| 0:08.8 | You don't need a script. Hey, everybody. I'm Kyle Rizzell. Welcome back to Make Me Smart. Where we make today makes sense. Kimberly is off gallivanting around the Great White North. Amy Scott is on the pod today. Amy Scott, as I live and breathe. |
| 0:21.0 | That's me. I'm here. Good to be back, everybody. Thanks for joining us on this Wednesday. It is April 30th. |
| 0:27.4 | We are going to do what we do on a Wednesday, news and smiles and get this show on the road. |
| 0:32.7 | That's right. I think you should go first because I'm so intrigued by the minimal notes you have here. |
| 0:37.3 | Okay. So we got an advanced look at first quarter GDP today, gross domestic product. |
| 0:43.8 | And of course, as everybody to listen to this podcast knows, there is a formula for gross domestic product. |
| 0:47.9 | And the formula is C plus I plus G plus X minus M in parentheses equals GDP. |
| 0:55.1 | So as everyone knows. |
| 0:56.2 | Everybody knows. |
| 0:57.1 | C equals consumer spending. |
| 0:59.3 | I equals business spending. |
| 1:01.9 | G equals government spending. |
| 1:03.7 | And X minus M is exports minus imports, which is net exports. |
| 1:10.8 | Okay. So all the consumer spending that happens, all the |
| 1:13.9 | business expending that happens, all the government spending that happens, plus net exports, |
| 1:18.8 | right, gives us the entire size of this economy. And I bring that up because today we got the |
| 1:24.8 | advanced look at first quarter GDP, which showed that gross domestic product |
| 1:28.9 | in this country shrank. The economy actually got three-tenths of one percent smaller, |
| 1:34.1 | according to that formula, than it had been in the prior month. Okay? And that's on an annualized |
| 1:39.3 | basis. Now, that is empirically bad news because one never really wants an economy to get smaller. |
... |
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