Also representing other parts of the National Economic Council, Alicia Munnell, from the Council of Economic Advisors is with us, and also Dr. Larry Summers, the Deputy Secretary of the Treasury. It's a great pleasure to welcome you all here. Take it away. I'm glad I got my voice back for this. We did get the advance report today from the Commerce Department on the growth of output in the first quarter of this year.
Economists often do, on the one hand-on the other hand kind of reports.
This is not that kind of report. This is plain and simple good news for the American economy and more evidence that the President's economic strategy is paying off. Growth was reported in at 2.8 percent on the new chain-weighted basis. A second point about this report is it shows that we are still enjoying an investment-led expansion. We're particularly encouraged about this because investment not only adds to demand now, but it adds to supply capability in the future.