Too Mixed, Too Late

The news allowed George Bush to charge that when Democrats say "everything is going to hell . . . they're wrong." To be sure, the unexpectedly strong 2.7% third-quarter rise in gross domestic product -- the nation's output of goods and services -- was the best news in months. Unfortunately, it might not be quite as good as it looked; the increase resulted partly from a rise in inventories, which could translate as a pile-up of unsold goods. Other figures gave a highly mixed picture: personal income and consumer spending up, durable-goods orders and consumer confidence down. Even mixed news is a relief from the stagnation limned by earlier figures. Politically, whatever slight improvement may be seen comes so late as to be almost irrelevant.

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