A Mixed Consumer Outlook Was Signaled in August, with Optimism Broadly
At or Off High Levels Last Seen Crashing into the 2001 Recession, Before 9/11

Second-Quarter 2018 Gross Domestic Product (GDP) Inflation-Adjusted Real Growth
Revised to an Annualized 4.23% (Previously 4.06%), versus a First-Quarter 2.22%

Yet, Growth in Second-Quarter “GDP Equivalent” Gross Domestic Income (GDI)
Came in at 1.81%, Down from a First-Quarter 3.90%

Broader Second-Quarter Gross National Product (GNP) Real Growth
(GDP Net of International Flows in Interest and Dividend Payments),
Was an Initial 4.07%, versus 2.20% in the First Quarter

Headline GDP Now Stands 17.46% Above Its Pre-Recession Peak, but
No Major Underlying Economic Series or Broad Employment Measure Confirms
Such a Level of Recovery in this Most-Heavily Gimmicked of U.S. Statistics

Better Quality, Broad Economic Measures Suggest that
Real-World Activity Has Yet to Recover Its Pre-Recession High

The ShadowStats Real GDP, Corrected for Understated Inflation,
Continued Off Bottom, Growing Quarter-to-Quarter and Year-to-Year,
Yet It Remained Well Shy of Recovering Pre-Recession Levels