Americans consume a lot

Mitt Romney discussed his detailed economic proposals at a Republican debate in Boca Raton, Fla., prefacing his comments with the need to get money into the hands of people who will spend it.

Speaking favorably of the Bush stimulus plan, Romney said, “What’s effective is, first, he’s getting money back to consumers. And given the fact that two-thirds of our economy is a consumer economy, getting money back into the hands of our citizens, a lot of them paying a lot for gasoline, a lot for heating oil, a lot of people concerned about how to make ends meet, that makes sense to me.”

It made us wonder: Two-thirds of our economy geared to consumption? Is that true?

Consumption includes pretty much everything we spend our money on. The major components of consumption include things like food, apparel and services, transportation, health care and entertainment.

The latest data available from the third quarter of 2007 show that personal consumption expenditures in the United States made up 70 percent of the gross domestic product, with a split of 7.7 percent for durable goods, 20.4 percent for nondurable goods, and 41.9 percent for services.

Turns out Romney is on the money. We rate his statement True.

By

Angie Drobnic Holan

Former Editor-in-Chief

January 30, 2008

Truth-o-meter Ruling

True

Statement

"Two-thirds of our economy is a consumer economy."

Context

Boca Raton, Fla.

Speaker/Target

Speaker: Mitt Romney

Statement Date

January 24, 2008