G.D.P., Election Day, Anglerfish: Your Thursday Evening Briefing
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1. The coronavirus pandemic dealt a record blow to the nation’s economy.
Gross domestic product, the broadest measure of goods and services, fell 9.5 percent in the second quarter of the year, the most devastating three-month collapse on record. That translates to a 32.9 percent annual rate of decline.
The drop would have been even steeper had it not been for trillions of dollars in government aid to households and businesses.
For context, the G.D.P. fell 4 percent during the entirety of the Great Recession — and took 18 months to get there. In essence, the U.S. wiped out five years of economic growth in a matter of months. Here’s a breakdown of the numbers.
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