The case of the missing GDP report

This podcast is supported by Odoo. Some say Odoo business management software is like fertilizer for businesses because the simple efficient software promotes growth. Others say Odoo is like a magic beanstalk because it scales with you and is magically affordable. And some describe Odoo's programs for manufacturing, accounting, and more as building blocks for creating a custom software suite. So Odoo is fertilizer, magic beanstalk building blocks for business. Odoo, exactly what businesses need. Sign up at odoo.com. That's odoo.com. Hey, hockey fans. Can't get enough hockey? Then get more with Team USA. Check out Team USA games at USA Hockey Arena in Plymouth packed with all the hockey thrills and energy, but at a family friendly price. Grab your Team USA tickets today at usahockeyntdp.com. We are gonna operate today in the land of make believe. Let's make believe we have a way to know what's actually going on in this economy. From American Public Media, this is Marketplace. I'm Kai Rizdoll. It is Thursday, today, October 30. Good as always to have you along, everybody. We've got this economic calendar we use around the office. Helps us keep track of what kind of data is supposed to be coming out day by day and week by week. As you know, since the shutdown started low these thirty days ago, more releases have been canceled than have actually happened. The two we are interested in today, and the absence of which is forcing us into the land of economic data make believe, our initial claims for unemployment benefits. Mitchell Hartman's gonna have that later on in the program. Don't sleep on the labor market. Am I right? But we're gonna start with the biggie. What was supposed to be an update on economic growth in the third quarter, g, d, and p are the initials there. Marketplace Daniel Ackerman is our guide. When I called up Bill Adams, chief economist at Comerica Bank, he was more than happy to engage in some educated speculation. I love the premise for this interview. We don't have an economic release. We don't really know what's going on, but let's talk about it anyway. He says there's always some uncertainty about the state of the economy, but it's still useful to guess what GDP might be because Over time, real GDP per person in the country is a great predictor of overall standards of living. It's also a really good measure of the business cycle. So some Federal Reserve branches model GDP. The Atlanta Fed estimates the economy grew at a healthy annual rate of 3.9 last quarter. New York has a more modest 2.4%, and the Saint Louis Fed, just 0.6%. Mark Zandi is chief economist at Moody's Analytics. I will caution, though. I wouldn't put much stock in any of these numbers at the moment because they're based on data, and we don't have any data. At least not the kind that typically feeds these models. But the estimates all …