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"The economy grew this winter at its fastest pace in more than two years, the government said yesterday, delivering a clear sign that the recession has ended and that a new expansion has started briskly. But analysts said that growth was unlikely to continue at the 5.8 percent pace of the first three months of the year, pointing to signs that the economy has already weakened slightly in April."
"But there was no doubt the economic downturn is over. Consumers, flush with large tax refunds and helped by low interest rates, continued to spend freely in the first quarter of the year."
"And the federal government gave the economy a big push by increasing military spending at the fastest rate since the Vietnam War."
"The 5.8 percent annual growth rate in the nation's economic output for the first quarter was up sharply from the 1.7 percent pace for the final quarter of 2001. The Commerce Department report confirmed that few of last year's widespread economic fears had come true and that the recent recession, which officially began last March but has not yet been formally declared over, was one of the mildest since World War II."
"But few economists doubt the recent downturn deserves to be called a recession, largely because the country lost 1.4 million jobs over the last year as industrial production plunged."
"With the weather unusually warm and mortgage rates low, spending on housing construction — which is not included in consumer spending — jumped 15.7 percent, the biggest rise in six years."
"Military spending also surged — growing at a 19.6 percent rate, the most since 1967 — as the war in Afghanistan continued, and the Pentagon geared up for potential missions. State and local government spending increased at a 5.6 percent pace, but it is expected to fall in coming months as governments struggle to close budget deficits."
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