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Supply
Chain by the Numbers |
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- July 31, 2015 -
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Amazon Fulfillment and Shipping Costs Weight on Profits; Oil Headed Way Down, Analyst Says; Cost to Replace US Interstates is Staggering, Requires Tolls, Study Says; US GDP Lukewarm Again in Q2 |
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2.3%
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That was the first estimate this week for US real GDP growth in Q2 from the Commerce Dept., much better than the 0.6% (revised up from -0.2%) the government now says was seen in Q1. Still, the 2.3% figure was below the 2.6% rate generally expected by analysts, and about flat with the 2.2% rise in real GDP seen in Q4 2104. Consumer spending was up decently, but business spending remained weak, down at a 4.1% annual rate in the quarter. A couple of weeks ago, the International Monetary Fund revised downward its full year 2015 growth forecast for the US to 2.5%, from 3.1% in April, a decrease of about 20%. Growth in the low 2% range has simply become the new normal, though that's better than many other parts of the world.
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$1 Trillion |
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That's at minimum the present value of the amount of money that will be required to replace all 47,000 miles of the US interstate highway system and do some selective widening, according to a 2013 report from the Reason Foundation. The cost may be as a high as $2 trillion. Why replace all 47,000 miles? Because the roads were built in the 1950s and 60s with a lifespan expectation of 50-60 years, and we are at that point now. All that from a new report from the Reason Foundation's Robert Poole Jr., who says that the only real hope for raising that kind of many is an electronic toll system for trucks and cars - 14 cents per mile for trucks, indexed for inflation, Poole recommends. That would be on top of the existing diesel taxes, by the way. While the costs would be steep for shippers in the end, Poole's logic makes some sense, though the American Trucking Associations remains strongly against tolls, commenting that it "will continue to strongly oppose the imposition of tolls in the Interstate system, particularly now as we've seen several states back off plans to erect tolls once the public sees just how bad they are for mobility and efficiency." |
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