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Personal Income Increases At $4 Trillion Annual Rate in March

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If you're looking for some good news, check this out:

Personal income skyrocketed by more than $4 trillion in March nearly all of it due to the $1,400 checks in the Democratic rescue plan passed earlier this year. Consumer spending increased $616 billion while all the rest was put into personal savings.

I'll confess to some confusion. The total rescue bill amounted to only $1.9 trillion, and the $1,400 checks supposedly cost about $400 billion. So where did the $4 trillion come from? I am puzzled, but if I find out more I'll let y'all know.

UPDATE: Ah. Dean Baker points out that this is an annualized rate. It's right there in the footnotes on page 4 of the BEA release! Sheesh. Would it kill them to say, "Personal income increased at an annualized rate of $4.21 trillion" in the main text?


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