Budget agency projects slow growth, high joblessness

[DemocratSinceBirth]

WASHINGTON – The economy will grow by less than 3% through 2012, and unemployment will remain above 8% until 2014, the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office projects

In its semiannual update of budget and economic data, the agency — which serves as the official scorekeeper for President Obama and Congress — projects painfully slow progress on the economic front through next year's election and beyond.

Economic growth will remain slow but steady, it says, increasing by 2.3% this year and 2.7% next year. In a blog post on the agency's website, director Douglas Elmendorf notes those projections were made in early July — before financial market gyrations and some lackluster economic indicators.

"Incorporating that news would have led CBO to temper its near-term forecast for economic growth," he said

http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/story/2011-08-24/Budget-agency-projects-slow-growth-high-joblessness/50127042/1