mark: diane swonk in chicago the gdp grew at an annualized rate at just 2/10 of 1% in the first quarteris this rather related, or something else going on? diane: the weakness cannot be related to that. we have yet to see that big boost in growth associated with low oil prices stronger consumer spending. consumer spending actually held up fairly well in the first quarter, but fairly well is not what it was doing, nor what we would expect, given the decline in oil prices, even at their current level, and i think that is one of the things that that is going to be watching very closely. how are the housing market and consumer spending doing going forward as we get into the second quarter, and is the weakness more broad-based in its affect on unemployment. was it just a first quarter phenomenon or not. we could have had a 1% first quarter, and we could have said it is transitory partly transitory. some of it is more systemic. weakness abroad, a strong dollar. we are not seeing all of the benefits. marco: michael mckee, how is the decline in energy exploration affecting these numbers, as well

diane swonk of mesirow financial joins us again from chicago. sodine, those last few months of jobs numbers, were they the norm or were they an outlier? >> they certainly were a disappointment, if anything else. i think they do reflect the weakness that we saw in the economy in the first quarter and what's difficult to tease out is how much of a role unusually harsh winter weather, strikes and work stoppages on the west coast ports which affected manufacturing activity, how much of it were excuses and how much fundamental weaknesses. >> sreenivasan: how about the dollar and the strength of the dollar? that's been a story line for the last couple of months. >> certainly the dollar is one of the factors along with weak growth abroad hitting the manufacturing sector. the bulk effect of the dollar is still ahead of us. that's what's disturbing about what we've seen today. much to have the interruptions in manufacturing activity came because we literally had containers get stopped at west coast ports and parts couldn't make it to manufacturers. the w

. -- diane swonk. did we get any indication on when the fed was going to change their rates? guest: the data has gone in the opposite direction and now we need to see it catch up before the fed actually raises rates. you are starting to hone in on the discussion of how they're going to raise rates and the gradualism that will be accompanied by that. we also saw governor powell at the federal reserve board pointing out why we need to have a slower glide path on rates. this is important -- this is not a versailles's process. they really don't know how -- you are getting a range because they can't actually target like they once could. mark: you mentioned a slower glide path. how slow are we talking about? guest: i think it is going to be extremely slow. they also pointed out some other issues the fed is traveling with -- that is the legacy of the great recession and the damage it has caused two potential growth along with productivity growth and investment and the marginalized workforce. the longer the expansion can be monetary policy is not a cure-all but the longer it can be,