Marc Faber : ZERO to Negative GDP Growth in the US in 2012

Marc Faber : In the US, growth has slowed down and it is insignificant in my opinion. The growth is insignificant. The statistics are published by governments and government agencies. I don’t believe that the US economy is growing much at the present time. The way that GDP is calculated is that you put in some figures about sales and production and then you deduct the inflation rate which they calculate. But if you took unofficial costs of living increases, then I would guess that there is no growth because rents nationwide, for residential rates, the rates have gone up by 9%. Insurance premiums are going up and healthcare rates are going up and if you look at employment it is a disaster. In the meantime, the government is essentially throwing $1.3 billion at the economy annually through the budget deficit and through the household deficit. Without these payments by the government, I think there would actually be actually negative economic growth.- in City Wire