| The US economy can't grow any slower. The Bureau of Economic Analysis estimates that between January and March, the US economy grew at an anemic 0.1% year-over-year. That's substantially less than the 1.2% estimated by economists and a big drop from the 2.6% growth in the fourth quarter of 2013. The release will get revised, but right now, the big drags on the economy seem to be exports (a huge 7.6% annualized drop), nonresidential investments, and government spending. "Business investment is no longer a significant driver of the expansion. And nothing else (government spending, trade, housing) has emerged to replace it", writes Neil Irwin. The one bright spot in the data was a 3% boost in consumer spending. However, Ben Casselman notes that spending on goods and services was nearly flat. The 3% growth was driven almost entirely by utilities, because of the cold winter, and health care. While the former is just a seasonal effect, increased healthcare spending is a very good sign if it means the Affordable Care Act is encouraging people who previously didn't have insurance to get to the doctor, says Brad DeLong. (Longer term, there are serious trade offs in rising healthcare spending.) Hale Stewart makes an interesting, if conjectural, point: "According to UCLA Professor Edward Leamer, a decline in real residential fixed investment as a share of GDP is the first warning sign of a recession about 5 quarters out. With a decline of two quarters in a row, the outlook for 2015 has become more problematic". Jared Bernstein, meanwhile, thinks these numbers are "a stern warning, one that may or may not herald a downshift in GDP growth, but one that is hopefully not indicative of the underlying trend". Justin Wolfers is nonplussed by the numbers. "We already knew that quarter was basically one long snow day. Not a lot of info here", he tweeted, adding, "the components that are weak aren't persistent, while those that are strong tend to persist". Indeed, Matthew Phillips writes that some economists are revising their Q2 estimates up, anticipating people may have just put off their spending during the bad weather. The Fed doesn't seem to worried about the numbers, either. The latest FOMC statement, also out today, is barely changed from the last meeting. Citing bad weather as a driver of the slow first quarter and further improvement in the job market, the Fed will continue to taper asset purchases by $10 billion per month. — Shane Ferro On to today's links: That's So Gross
Bill Gross Wrote About The Erotic Pleasures Of Sneezing In His Latest Investment Letter But It's Okay - Dealbreaker Crime And/Or Punishment
Meet the only Wall Street executive prosecuted as a result of the financial crisis - Jesse Eisinger Investigations
Manhattan prosecutors say they are getting close to filing criminal charges against banks - DealBook The Oracle
6 Questions for Warren Buffett - Dan McCrum Fact Check
Does Twitter really have 1 billion users? (hint: no) - Jay Yarow Your Daily Outrage
The meteoric, costly and unprecedented rise of incarceration in America - Emily Badger
"Execution policy drives little of the year-to-year variation in homicide rates" - Justin Wolfers Even More TBTF
Fannie and Freddie would only lose $190 billion in another crisis - Matt Levine | 
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