3rd Q GDP revised downward from 3.5% to 2.8% to 2.2%

You take out taxpayer funded cash for clunkers and home tax credit, you got an economy that is barely breathing.

The US economy limped forward at a 2.2 percent pace in the third quarter, according to government figures Tuesday that suggest a tepid recovery from recession. The downward revision from last month's estimate of 2.8 percent growth in gross domestic product (GDP) came primarily from a weaker contribution from business investment, as well as slightly slower consumer spending growth. The Commerce Department report confirms that the world's biggest economy swung back to growth in the July-September period after four quarters of contraction in the worst recession in decades, but with little forward momentum. Scott Brown, chief economist at Raymond James & Associates, said the report was "a bit disappointing" and suggests "that underlying domestic demand is pretty soft." Brown said he expects a jump in growth to at least 4.0 percent in the current fourth quarter, but says much of that will come from restocking of business inventories drawn down in the recession.