As a result, sales managers could not compare the performance of difference sales people or estimate the sales that were likely to close by the end of the quarter.
If we carry this hypothetical 30% decline forward, the annual difference from our base case estimate would be about 300 MW by the end of our forecast period.
In effect, the IMF split the difference last week, with its estimate that fiscal tightening had caused Britain's national output to be 2.5% smaller than it would have been (though the Treasury would claim that some of that effect was incorporated in the original forecast).
The researchers say the difference between the lower short-term estimate and the more consistent long-term picture can be explained by the fact that the heat from the last decade has been absorbed into and is being stored by the world's oceans.
But the rub lies in how officials estimate economic slack, which brings us back to the difference between the European and U.S. views of the U.S. economy.