I know the cold war is heating up and there is the ISIS threat as well, but is it ironic that the Government numbers showed strength right before the key November elections?

Government contributed 0.83% to 3Q GDP.

Government contributed 0.83% to 3Q GDP.

Government added 0.83% to GDP which was the highest gain since June 2009 and the 4th highest quarterly increase going back to 2002. Within the category, Defense Spending contributed 0.66% to that value. This was the highest contribution since September 2008 and June 2009 when the economy was in the depths of the recession and the growth had to come from somewhere. Admittedly, there tends to be an increase in the 3rd quarter and the contributions have been negative recently (so perhaps having a rebound is not surprising), but just saying a swipe of the pen sure makes the headline number look good for the newspaper headlines tomorrow.

Defense Spending leads the Government spending contributions.

Defense Spending leads the Government spending contributions.