Slowdown

   It had to happen. The American economy is big, but it's not big enough to carry the rest of the world.
   While the U.S. economy surged last year, other major economies, including Europe and Japan and more recently China, struggled. Now, the U.S. economy has been caught in the slowing tide, as the government reported a first-quarter growth of just 0.2 percent for the first quarter of 2015. The Federal Reserve acknowledged the slowdown in its summary of conditions discussed at a meeting in March. And the Fed signaled that it would delay easing its support policy, to keep interest rates below its "normal" rate for some time to come.
   Granted, that GDP report is a preliminary estimate and is subject to revision, but with the world outlook "uneven" for major countries and regions, according to an International Monetary Fund analysis, it would be a good idea to keep a wary eye open, especially as other U.S. government reports back the idea of a slowdown. Examples: New home sales were down 11.4 percent in March from February, building permits for new homes were down 5.7 percent, and the home ownership rate was off 1.1 percent  even as the rental vacancy rate was down by 1.2 percent. Those last two numbers mean that more people are renting, and fewer are buying houses.

Bits

   LIES, DAMN LIES, AND STATISTICS -- N.J. Gov. Chris Christie proclaimed that during some months of the Obama Administration, more people have filed for unemployment benefits than have landed a new job. Like many political attack statements, it has truthiness in its favor. It implies that the Democratic President has failed somehow, and lets people infer that it wasn't just some months, but the entire six years of Obama's tenure.
   However, as Factcheck.org pointed out, that same statement can be made about every Administration for the past 40 years.

   TRUTHINESS -- Sen. Ted Cruz wrote in a New York Times Op-Ed piece that marriage is between one man and one woman, as ordained by God. This may well be a true statement of Sen. Cruz's beliefs. But what about Mormons, who have practiced polygamy? Or what about atheists, for whom there is no god? Or agnostics, who have doubts about it?
   For others -- traditional man-woman couples who choose a non-church wedding -- marriage is a contract. In countries such as France, there may be two ceremonies -- a civil wedding to cement a legal contract, and a religious ceremony to sanctify that contract.
   With or without sanctification, the wedding is a legal contract between two people. And for some, there may be no ceremony at all, which was true for many hundreds of years, for many millions of couples.
   Or, as stated in a Prince Valiant color strip about a Viking seaman one Sunday 47 years ago, "About this time the marriage of Captain Helge Haakon and Katwin took place. They simply stated publicly that they took each other to spouse. No impossible oaths, no absurd promises, no deities were invoked. It is believed they lived together not unhappily."
   That works for me.

   EXTREME TECHIE TOUCHINESS --   Just got stuck behind a woman at Starbucks who used three transactions to buy one coffee. Step One: Borrowed $20 on her credit card. Step Two: Loaded said $20 onto her mobile device. Step Three: Paid for her coffee by mobile gadget, price $2.74. No wonder the Starbucks system crashed yesterday.