We're still a week or two away from the official announcement of 2016's first-quarter economic growth rate, so I'll eat my words if the predictions I'm citing here don't come to pass. But based in large part on poor corporate profits, very weak retail sales and so not-so-hot fundamentals to begin with, the people who watch this stuff aren't very encouraged.
You know those all-too-frequent quarters we've seen during the Obama presidency? The ones with growth at or under 1 percent? Get ready for another one: