U.S. economy shrank at annual rate of 0.9% in the second quarter
CBSN
The U.S. economy shrank between April and June of this year, a sign the U.S. may be teetering on the edge of a recession.
The nation's gross domestic product, a measure of total spending on goods and services across the economy, fell at an annual rate of 0.9%, the Commerce Department said Thursday.
The contraction follows a 1.6% decline in economic activity in the first three months of the year and means the U.S. could currently be in a recession, which is broadly defined as two straight quarters of negative growth.
Ashley White received her earliest combat action badge from the United States Army soon after the first lieutenant arrived in Afghanistan. The silver military award, recognizing soldiers who've been personally engaged by an attacker during conflict, was considered an achievement in and of itself as well as an affirming rite of passage for the newly deployed. White had earned it for using her own body to shield a group of civilian women and children from gunfire that broke out in the midst of her third mission in Kandahar province. All of them survived. She never mentioned the badge to anyone in her battalion.